Three Wishes
by IndigoGrapefruit
Summary: Being a genie is not easy, especially when your master is and has been in love with you since you were human… Wait a minute…
1. Prologue

_____Official Disclaimer:____ A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

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_Three Wishes_

**Prologue**

* * *

Once upon a time…

* * *

The girl with green hair and catlike emerald eyes ascended the steps with her chin tilted high. Instantly, Narumi recognized her as one of his former pupils. She was still pretty young, perhaps around twenty thousand years old. For one who was about to suffer the fate that had been dictated for her, Sumire truly appeared fearless.

He knew better. Narumi hadn't been taught her since she was a wee genie for nothing. He could see the greenish tints of her iris flickering and constantly changing shades. It happened years before, when she was panicking over a challenging exam question.

The two other genies following her both held an end of a coarse rope meant to bind her hands with. Narumi also recognized them as genies he had formerly taught. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, Koko and Mochu had been in the same class as Sumire. Now, thousands of years later, they would help carry out her execution.

They barely wrapped the rope around her wrist once before she sharply snapped at them, "Yome, you use this rope to tie down furniture when moving lamps! You do not use it to tie my hands. Ever!"

The ever-beaming genie frowned. "Permy, you're already convicted under Degree 362 of the Law Book of Genies. Mochu and I have to constantly monitor your actions. Do you think it's really wise to—"

She punched him in the gut.

"I will decide what is wise for me," she grumbled while stripping her hands of the rope, "and what is wise for you. I remain a Genie Official until the moment I am executed, or have you forgotten, Yome? Now go get me a proper rope."

With a grunt, Koko left while Mochu remained on guard. Not that he needed to. Already hundreds of spectators with watchful eyes gathered.

Narumi watched as Sumire sat down casually, cross-legged, on the execution platform. He focused intently on her wrist, even squinting a bit. It took him a while to figure out what she was doing. Then, Sumire pulled a splinter out of her skin and flung it as far as she could.

A smile grazed his lips. _Typical. Only Sumire would worry about a splinter days before her death._

A few more days passed, and now she was staring thoughtfully into the blade while rubbing her temples.

Mochu grumbled, glancing at his new golden watch. "What's taking him so long?"

Then, as if on cue, Koko ran up the stairs with a definitely smoother rope. Upon seeing him, Sumire strangely stood up and voluntarily held her arms out. Koko and Mochu made quick work of it. The rope was tied so tightly that Narumi had to wonder if the swap really made a difference.

"Come then," said Mochu.

"No," harrumphed Sumire. She shook off his clasp on her shoulder.

"It's alright. I'll walk her," Koko spoke up.

Jaw tight, Mochu gave a stiff nod.

Koko led Sumire right to the execution block. Narumi, however, noticed that when he strapped her head down, his head hovered suspiciously close to her ear. As she laid there he whispered no more than a few words before returning to his place at Mochu's side.

"Is she dying?"

Narumi turned around and gasped.

It was her! The child! She was very much like a seven thousand year old genie. Fixing her eyes on Sumire, the human girl watched fretfully with her hands clenched at her heart. A closer look told Narumi that there were tears in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered frantically. "You can't be here. They'll find you. Do you have any idea how much you're wanted in this world?"

The tears fell, creating shiny wet trails on her cheeks. "They're going to kill her. It's not fair! She never did anything wrong. She made made me happy."

Now she fully broke out crying, hands covering her face.

Narumi couldn't help but reach out towards the girl. When he touched her, however, she flinched. Conflicted and slightly hurt, he quickly withdrew his hand.

A loud horn rang, and atop the platform the execution began. A Genie Official mysteriously donned in a black cloak and white mask stood adjacent to Sumire, facing the audience of genies. The scroll in his hands fell to the floor as he started reading.

"We are gathered here today to witness of execution of Sumire Shouda, for violating Genie Laws 12, 20, and 1096 by bringing—"

Narumi's attention was diverted when the child exclaimed, "ouch! My hand burns."

"—to all of the Genie Community. Punishment must be—"

"Let me see," he said. Excitement lit up his face as he took her hand and examined it, only to be disappointed when the palm was empty.

"—decapitation performed in Genie Square—"

"The other one!" she exclaimed, waving her right hand up into the air.

He nearly fell back when he saw a lamp on her palm. It was glowing bright crimson! Delicately, Narumi touched the lamp with a finger, only to be singed. A huge grin seeped onto his face. He felt like running and jumping and punching the air at the same time, all the while yelling "look, everyone, I found it!" for he'd just ascertained a phenomenon rumoured to exist since the beginning of genie time.

Up on the block, Sumire was trying very hard to refrain from squirming. Her eyes drifted to her own hands.

"—ore commencing, does anyone have any objections to the execution of Sumire Shouda?

Instantly, Narumi's hand shot into the air. He screamed loud enough for the entire city to hear, "I do!"

Serio's beady eyes scrutinized him. "Very well. State your objection."

"It's impossible to kill a genie if she still has a connection to her master. The mark of the genie will protect her from harm."

A wave of whispers broke out in the audience. Displeasure appeared on Serio's face.

"Is that all? A simple myth?" he sneered. "Yukihara, he claims we cannot kill her because of the connection. What do you say about that?"

The Genie King raised his hand, silencing every other genie present. His eyes fell upon Narumi. The latter felt inclined to bow, but remained as he was. Regretfully, Yukihira proclaimed, "Narumi, you must understand that the rule is the rule."

"As are the unwritten rules," Narumi protested, staring straight into the face of his king, "the ones that have been forgotten in time."

Serio laughed icily. "Unwritten rules, he says. Let the execution commence!"

The executioner, a man whose head was almost entirely wrapped in bandages, stepped forward. He was a very intimidating man, thumping his every step with the handle of his gigantic scythe. The entire audience watched in anxiety. Mothers covered up their children's faces. Hands were tightly held, and fingers crossed.

Sumire's eyes hardened.

Narumi never broke the stare he had with Yukihara. In fact, the determination in his eyes was increasing. As the executioner raised his axe, Yukihara was the first to look away.

_Sorry._

He could almost hear the Genie King's apology, but it meant nothing now.

_Just wait and see, _Narumi thought, _how wrong you are. How wrong you all are._

From beside him, the child whimpered and bit down hard on her lower lip. She clenched his hand tightly. For her, the pain was overwhelming.

Serio exchanged nods with the executioner. The bandaged man raised his arms, bringing the gleaming, enchanted scythe into the air.

The blade swung. And it cracked.

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Time in Three Wishes will be measured by humans according to human time and genies according to genie time (1 human year = 1000 genie years). The conversion is as following: human time in days = genie time in years x 0.365.

Please review, fave, alert, and just enjoy the story. :)

-IndigoGrapefruit


	2. Disaster

___Official Disclaimer: A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

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_Three Wishes_

**1: Disaster**

* * *

… There lived a beautiful maiden cursed with a spell only one man can break,

* * *

I, Mikan Yukihira live in what all the older genies call the "Golden Era." In my sixteen thousand years of genie life, I've come past very little complications under the rule of my very own Uncle Narumi.

You can say whatever you want but I firmly stand that my uncle is one of, if not _the_ greatest genie king we've ever had! Compared to him, Uncle Yukihira seems like the Grinch, and Granddaddy Noda wasn't even here half the time.

In fact, we still see Granddaddy Noda sometimes, wandering about the streets in his teens.

Uncle Narumi remains my favourite for a reason though! It's not just because he's the ruler of my age. After he came to power, he took the gray clouds, cast them away, and rained on us a stream of sunshine so bright that it pierces through our cloud barrier with the neighbouring Clapping Genie Kingdom. He took the frowns of genies, whether one thousand or sixty five thousand years old, and flipped it upright. Not to mention he also vetoed genie executions and lightened the sentences for breaking genie law.

In short, my uncle has too much awesome to exist!

I can't say the same for mommy though. She's Uncle's sister, so she's pretty awesome as well, but she just has this little itty bitty issue with teenagers that somehow always makes us butt foreheads. We're never able to communicate with each other properly. It's quite little sad.

Sometimes I wish she at least tries to remember the little things like how I can't hear anything when she poofs loudly in front of me in her sparkly cloud of smoke. Like now.

"Mommy, can you repeat that?"

Oh! I see her at last. Ah! I can see her giving me _the look_ with her arms folded. Uh oh. This is not going to go well… "For heaven's sake, Mikan, why did you run out on us during the last Genie Official Meeting? You're one of the select few chosen for the new program. All you have to do is transfer out into a new lamp! Nothing's going to change."

I can't believe my ears. Mommy is still going about that? Okay, let me tell you a story. Uncle Narumi conducted a Genie Official Meeting two days ago and rounded up four thousand genies from all over Snapping Genie Land for a new program. For the sake of organization, he wants us to start only granting wishes for masters of the opposite sex.

Of course, I'm all down with it, but it's just that…

"I don't want to move to another lamp, mommy! I love my lamp! I grew up here! And I _really_ don't want to unpack my things again!" I know, I know. I'm whining like a child. But you don't understand how hard it is to stuff my delicate keepsakes in and out of lamps without damaging them! I hate moving so much.

"Mikan, you have_ magic._" Yes mommy, I know. We're genies. We all have magic. "It's not like I'm asking you to move all of this—" Hey! I don't have that much stuff, do I? "—yourself. I totally agree with you. I hate moving too! But you gotta do what you gotta do."

"Mommy, if you make me move then you're officially not my mother anymore."

"And you're not my crazy daughter any longer." She's refusing to look at me as well, isn't she? Whenever mommy and I have tantrums, we always brood over the littlest things. I think I get it from her.

"I'm calling Uncle Narumi. He's so much nicer than you."

She attempts to sigh patiently. It's a good attempt; it just… doesn't really work. "Your uncle's the one who made me talk you into this. He won't be happy to hear that you're acting this way."

"No. Uncle loves me."

"Pack your stuff. I'm picking you up in half an hour." I know that tone. It's what mommy uses every time daddy tries to grow a mustache and she wants him to shave it off. And the odd thing is that it always works. And, yup, she's gone. Ack! So much glitter and dust! It tickles!

Elite genies are always used to getting their way, aren't they? That's probably why we're so stubborn. With daddy as a former king's brother and mommy as the current king's sister, I suppose to everyone else I must seem like a princess.

What kind of princess will I be if I don't set a good example for everyone else?

Well, goodbye lovely crooks and crannies that I'll never see again. Goodbye, luscious orange interior. Goodbye spiral staircase and ivory chandelier. I'm off to a new home with a new master now.

* * *

Sometimes I really, really dislike Uncle Narumi. I don't know how he ever does it. I don't know how he manages to never make me mad at him because every time he takes something away he gives back ten times its worth.

My new lamp is so, so, so exquisite!

The floor is laden with this soft, luscious red fur carpet. It's so soft I can just lie down and roll around in it forever. Oh, I don't ever want to move again. But that's not even getting into it! He even gave me the exact same spiral staircase I had in my old lamp. And my walls are orange! All the walls in this new lamp are painted my favourite colour.

Uncle, I love you with my heart and soul!

"Mikan." Yes mommy dearest? "you should probably settle down before you start reveling in its greatness."

"I love uncle so much!"

"Hey, now. Who convinced you to move again?" Oh, you sly mommy, pointing to your cheek with that innocent look!

Muah! Muah! Two lovely kisses from your daughter! "You are my sun! You are my sea! You are my world! You're the best mom ever! Please say that you'll never ever leave me."

No! Mommy, don't push me off! I love you! "Well I'm happy that you didn't end up disowning me after all. As much as your life revolves around me though, darling, I have to go round up the other genies to make sure they're all settled in. Here, I picked up an issue of Genie Weekly for you."

Genie Weekly? Oh my god! Even though most of what they print in there is rubbish, but I'm kind of like mommy. I just can't resist when it comes to gossip magazines. Thank you very much mommy! Whoa, cool snake-like dance. And…mommy's gone. Ah, crazy mommy! Her intros and outros are truly outdone by no other!

Hm, it looks like I made front again again. With Stinky Tsubasa. Ew. We're engaged? Even I didn't know that. I mean, come on! Anyone knows that he's a Clapping Genie and I'm a Snapping Genie. We don't even live in the same genie world! This is like my fifth "steamy, secret" relationship? Well, it's not like they know much about me anyways.

Oh well. I'm not really interested in reading what they've made up about me and Stinky Tsubasa. I guess I can give it to my wardrobe genie.

"Yura, are you there?"

"Present!" And there she is! Aw, I love her. She is the best wardrobe genie ever. The outfits she fixes up for me are just plain awesome. Oh, and cool fact for y'all: while Uncle didn't appoint wardrobe genies, he made the service free to everyone. See why we all love him?

"Can I get something yellow today?"

"No problem-o." Aww, she even makes an _O_ with her hand. So adorable!

Ooh! I really like this halter top! It's even jeweled all over. I just don't know how I feel about it ending above my belly button. Is this what Earthlings wear these days? Well, I suppose it'll look better with that pleated skirt Yura's getting me. Hey! Those are my charm bracelets and necklaces! I can't believe she even remembered to get those.

Mmm, I don't want to appear narcissistic but this is pretty spicy and modern, if I say so myself. I love this girl.

Wait, what did you say Yura? Something about smoke?

"What? I'm smoking?"

"Yeah, girl, _you_ are smoking hot, but your lamp is literally smoking."

Oh my gosh! My lamp _is_ smoking. And it's getting thicker and thicker by the minute. I can't even see my carpet anymore. Is it supposed to smoke like this? My old lamp never used to smoke this much. It kind of just shot me out whenever it was rubbed. Oh, gosh, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? Where is mommy when I need her the most?

"And that's my cue." No, Yura!

"Don't… leave me."

Please be easy on my poor heart…

Yes! Finally, up we go! Whoa, this is a bumpy ride. Okay, I must bring up this issue to Uncle Narumi next time we meet. I don't feel safe riding this thing. But at least I'm out now.

Well. It looks like we have a new problem on our hands.

One, two. Yup, I'm sure of it. There are two pretty boys standing in front of me. Which one's my master? Actually, never mind that. Why aren't there such gorgeous guys in the genie world? I can't believe human girls get this and all I get is Stinky Tsubasa. I really hope the boy on the right is my master. His hair looks so soft. I really want to run my hands through those blond locks! And his eyes are gorgeous! But the other boy, his eyes are even more gorgeous! I've never seen eyes that colour before. They're bright crimson. I wonder if he's wearing contact lenses. Wow. I feel totally mesmerized by them. Wait, I think he's giving me a once over but I'm not really sure. He may be the one who's just seeing thin air.

Either way, words cannot express my gratitude to Yura for changing me right on cue!

But wow! The boys aren't the only things that are gorgeous in this place. Look at this room! Whoever owns this house sure know how to interior decorate! Look at those elaborate golden golden candlesticks! I wonder if they're antiques. And the wallpaper's so intricate and layered. It must have taken days to put that up! Wow, those are gorgeous leather couches! Look at that hundred inch flat screen TV!

Envy. Envy.

"Natsume, what are you looking at?" It's the blond!

Oh, so I was wrong. Red eyed cutie is my master after all. Aw, that's too bad. I kind of want it to be the blond bombshell. But since genies are only visible to their master and other people with genies, I guess it's just not meant to be.

"Nothing." My master speaks! I love his voice. It's so husky and masculine and it's totally making my blood rush faster. "Ruka, you should leave. Didn't your mom's chauffeur just call?"

"Oh yeah! Right, I forgot for a minute. I'll see you on Natsume!"

Goodbye blond bombshell! Uhm. Is that my master turning to me with a predatory glance? He's stepping towards me too. Now he's stopping. Okay, the way he's looking at me is kind of scary to be honest.

"Who are you?"

Right. I haven't introduced myself. Silly Mikan. No wonder. "Hi, I'm Mikan! I'm going to be your genie from now on."

Why is he staring at my face? Do I have something there?

"Why would I need a genie if I already have everything I want?"

True… but who doesn't like genies? "Well you rubbed my lamp, so here I am!" And cheerleader pose!

He's not impressed.

Okay, I guess we have to do this the hard way. Hand out, palm facing down Natsume! And here's my palm. Yup, there they are. There are the lamp marks on our hands. "See these? They mark our master-genie relationship. From here on I'm going to be granting you three wishes. Each time I grant a wish the mark will fade a little. When the last wish is granted you'll go back to living your own life and forget that you ever had a genie. But, Master Natsume, take heed of what you wish for!"

I'm not sure how much of an effect my words have on him, but I'm going to take a shot and say _not a lot_. He gives me this weirdest glance, like something of a questionable glare. Okay, I guess he can just walk away. He's probably too shocked to think of a wish right now. Fair enough. Oh! Did he just pull out some sort of console? Wait, it's a DSi! Aw, I've always wanted one…

"Well, I see that you're busy at the moment. Don't mind me. Just pretend I don't exist. I'll be over there taking a quick nap on my carpet."

And snap! And trusty old carpet, there you are! I totally missed you! Come give Momma Mikan a huge hug! Carpets are so very useful to us genies! Not only do they carry us literally anywhere and everywhere, they're the most comfortably, heavenly beds you'll ever find in either worlds.

"Good night." No goodnight back? Okay. It looks like my master's totally enraptured in his game, so I'll just take this as a chance to spy on him. Just for a little. Hehe. He's not bad looking at all, very attractive actually…

* * *

Whatever thought I had before I fell asleep, I totally take it back.

I mean, he can be eye candy all he wants, but it's kind of a different story if I wake up to his face merely inches from mine. It's true that you only start seeing people's flaws after seeing them close up. We're basically like half a head away from each other and all I can think of are how short his eyebrows are.

Ack, he just inched closer.

Ack, I just fell off my carpet.

Smooth, Mikan.

"Ouch!" My poor, bruised bum!

"What kind of wishes do you do?" Why does he have such an innocent look as if he just didn't try to… do _something_ to my in my sleep. Wait, he didn't sharpie my face, did he?

"I can grant anything you want Master Natsume." Nope. Nada. Well it looks like I'm fine. Whoa, my cheeks are round. Have I gained weight?

"Hyuuga."

"Huh?"

"Master Hyuuga."

"Right, Master Hyuuga, sorry. I can grant you anything you want. Well, anything within reason. We have a few laws that stop us from completely destroying the human world."

"Like what?"

"Uhm…" Think Mikan! Think back to your classes! "Well, for example I can't grant a wish to kill a certain person, or to bring someone back from the dead. I can't grant anything that would unbalance the human world with ours. Oh, and also you can't wish for anything that'll allow you more than three wishes. Hm, this is hard. Our rule book is like a thousand pages long. If I have to explain every rule to you, we'll never get anything done. How about you just name anything and I'll tell you if I can grant it?"

"What about money?" I knew it! I just knew money's going to come up sooner or later. They all ask that question.

"Well the thing with money is that you have to put some kind of effort into it. I can't make money appear out of mid air, but I can, for example, turn virtual money into real cash. But Master Hyuuga, there's more to life than money. Think of all the things you can possibly wish for. You can make the world a better place for everyone!"

"Can I wish for you to shut up?"

"Your wish is—" And sna—

"I was kidding."

W-w-what? If you're going to joke, then at least warn me ahead of time! I almost snapped ahead of time. Thank goodness I have good reflexes! "Genies grant wishes very fast. Be careful if you're going to use sarcasm. There are no refunds. Master Hyuuga, you could have wasted a wish just now."

"Okay fine. As much as it boosts my ego, can you stop calling me 'Master Hyuuga'? It's seriously ticking me off."

"Is that a wish?"

"No."

"Then I can't. It's a genie rule." Yeah, uncle kind of had a brain fart a while ago.

But wow, I can't believe his eyes look attractive even when he's rolling them. I feel like the crimson irises just suck me in, but I'm a little scared to stare at them for too long. It's like looking into a bottomless pit. The more you stare at it, the more you feel like you're falling into it.

"Most rubbish I've ever heard of. What else do genies have to do? Let me guess, you have to travel in magic carpets and sleep in lamps."

Hey! "No! I only have my carpet because I like it. I can get rid of it just like this." And snap! And goodbye carpet! "As for the other rules, there are really only two important ones. We genies always have to be honest to our masters. Always. And also, we have to within five hundred metres of each other, unless you specifically wish otherwise."

"So what if I wished you to the other end of the planet?"

"Then I'll always be halfway across Earth from you, no matter where you go." Stop smirking! "You should know, though, that we genies can't perish in the same ways you humans do. We don't need to eat or sleep or breathe and we can't catch diseases. We have the ability to levitate and survive in extreme temperatures. No matter where you go, I'll be exactly as I am now but halfway across Earth from you."

"Hm."

He better not be getting ideas. While it is true that I'll come out unscathed, no one wants to be like submerged in lava, or in the oceans watching creatures swim right through you, or smack in the middle of a mountain with all the creepy crawlies.

"Will that be your wish then Master Hyuuga?"

"Well no." Phew! "But I do know what my first wish is going to be."

"That's wonderful!" _Finally_, we're getting somewhere! "You can tell me any time you want so that I can grant…" Those are huge steps! Why's he coming closer? Oh, those intense eyes… My heart! "—right, so your wish…" Oh no! When did he get within arm's reach? There's no where for me to run! "—er, any time…"

Ugh! His grip is so firm. My hands are totally tied down. How does he even manage to pin both of my hands with only one of his? No! Wrong move Mikan! Why'd I just look up at his face? His eyes are completely enrapturing me. Oh, what's going to happen next? This is so scary, and so thrilling at the same time. Is he going to hit me? Is he going to rape me? No! I don't want to die!

Eep, I can't look! Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me. Wait, he's not abusive is he? I hope he doesn't have any anger issues. How did I tick him off in the first place? Mommy, uncle, someone make a rule in the genie rulebook that deals with these situations!

Hm, nothing's happening. Did time freeze?

I guess I'll take a little peek. Whoa. My master's staring at me with this steady, unblinking gaze. This is so intense. He looks a little lost. Lonely. Vulnerable. I really want to hug him right now. It's too bad my hands are pinned down at the moment.

Did his eyes just linger on my lips? He's not getting _that_ lucky…

"Please don't kiss me! I don't like you that much."

Great. Nice save, Mikan. You'll be stopping big, bad molesters next.

That was so pathetic he's even snorting at me. But at least he moves his head to a normal distance. It's weird though. I swear he's offended by my rejection and yet he's still slipping an arm around my waist. Why? "When did I ever say anything about feelings? You've got a lot to learn, little one. A kiss is no big deal if it doesn't mean anything."

Little one? It's cause I'm four feet nine, isn't it?

Humph. Don't insult my height! This show is over Natsume! "Okay, this has been fun and all but can you please let me go now? Please. You can always do this to other, _human_ girls later on. They'd probably die to have a chance with you."

I feel that arm around my waist tightening. Either he's trying to push his limits or he really has a death wish. "Why?" Oh. God. His breath feels pretty sensual. And ticklish. My face is red, isn't it? I can just feel all the heat rush to my cheeks. Eep! I can't stare him straight in the eye. My whole body is turning into jelly. I'm pretty sure my legs will give in if he's not gripping me so tightly. "Don't you like what I'm doing to you?"

What the_—_where are his hands drifting? That is the last straw!

"Get your hands off me you pervert!" Aha! Finally I'm out of his evil clutches! Although I can't say I don't have any battle scars. Ow, my wrists! But at least now there are two fists between he and I. Haha! Come at me, pervert! Mikan stands for justice!

"Alright then, suit yourself."

"Can we get your first wish over with already?" He's one of the hard ones, I just know it! How long is it going to be before I get his three wishes over with and move on with my life?

"Alright _tease—_" What? Excuse me! I am not a tease, thank you! "_—_since you insist."

Well at least we're getting somewhere. Hm. Where's he going? Ooh! That's a beautiful mahogany shelf! He's pulling out something? A book! It looks kind of old, all yellow and tattered. I wonder what he wants from it.

"Come," Oh! It's a yearbook. But everyone's so… young. They're all kids! "Do you see this girl?" Oh my god. No. It can't be! I think my stomach just dropped straight out of my body. That girl! That girl with the pigtails and sunshiny smile! She's_— _"I want you to find her."

No. Please. Please. Fate, why do you have to be so cruel to me? Of all the things he could have wished for… "Can you repeat that again?" Please, I beg of you, Master Natsume! I'll do anything. Just don't say what I heard you say.

"Are you deaf?" Eep, he's mad now! "I told you. My first wish is to find out where the hell Mikan Sakura is. You can do that, can't you?"

All hope is lost. It's all going to be complication straight ahead from now on. At this point, I'm not even sure either one of us is going to come out of this unscathed.

Because Mikan Sakura is… me.


	3. Dilemma

___Official Disclaimer: A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**2: Dilemma**

* * *

if only he would try.

* * *

You can't deny that we genies are probably the craftiest creatures you'll ever find in this world and the next. Why else would people think us to be tricksters? We _are _tricksters. I mean, if we're not, we'll be taken advantage of by more people than you think. My very first class in Genie Academy was on how to find loopholes in your master's wishes.

"As you wish." Just wait until you see what I have in store for you, oh dear master of mine!

Buzz! Yes, step one down. His flatscreen is broadcasting Mikan Sakura's location. Oh! I recognize this place from my textbooks! It's Osaka. Here we go! We're getting a close up of a little girl. Look at those small hands, holding mint chocolate chip ice cream in one hand and her mother's hand in the other. Awwh! She's so adorable!

"Where is she?" Haha. I'm loving this. My master's so puzzled and frustrated. Look at him searching the screen so intently!

"It's her! It's that little girl right there!" In any case, it looks like I'm safe for now.

"That's _not_ Mikan Sakura. She's not even the right age."

"Mikan Sakura is her name. You told me to find Mikan Sakura, I found Mikan Sakura."

"You know what I meant! I want to find the Mikan Sakura in the yearbook!"

"Well then you should have said 'I want to find the Mikan Sakura that was in this yearbook.' If you did, then we wouldn't have this problem." Score one for Mikan and zero for Natsume! Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we have a winner for the first round. Uh yeah!

Whoa, I didn't know slamming a book shut can be that loud. Oh, I wish he doesn't throw these tantrums. He's so much less attractive with those short eyebrows knitted together. "You and your genie shenanigans! Are you even legit?"

What? How does he even get to that conclusion? "Yes! I even showed you the genie symbol. And if you look at it now, you'll see that it's become lighter, since you have one wish granted."

I guess I have to show him personally. Hand out, palm down, Natsume. See? See? It _is _lighter now. Yeah, you better form that puzzled face! Geez, serves you right for not believing me.

"Your service is bull. I should go complain."

Aw, I feel kind of guilty now. No Mikan! That's not good. You know what you do when you're guilty! No guilt! No guilt! Oh who am I kidding? I can't do this. I hate that I'm too nice for my own good. Everyone always manages to guilt me into compensating them in some way.

"Okay, wait, maybe I can help!" I was _so_ close to getting away with it!

It's so adorable how he quirks his brow at me!

"I mean, how hard can it be? We'll just narrow down every Mikan Sakura in the world until we find her!" In which case I'll be screwing myself over big time.

"You wouldn't understand." Man, that's a bitter tone he has there. "You just think this whole thing is one big joke. You don't even know why I want to find her."

Ouch. That kind of stings.

"Well…" What can I do to comfort him? "How about you tell me why you want to find her? There's a genie theory that the more the genie knows about someone, the better they can find them."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is called a white lie. Now don't get me wrong! The statistics bit is true. They teach it in fifth year at the academy. But everything I say is really just a red herring, because whether I like it or not, I already know all too well where his Mikan Sakura is.

I guess that saying "ignorance is bliss" really does apply sometimes after all.

"Let me take you somewhere." Ooh! Adventure! I'm down. "Then maybe you'll know why I care so much about Mikan Sakura."

Oh. Well, I guess… I guess it doesn't matter. I'll go anyway. I have to.

I'm just really curious now why he wants to find me, and why I'm even in that yearbook. Aren't I a genie? Did I see it wrong? No, I swear that yearbook picture was of me ten thousand years ago. Does that mean I used to be a human? When I was small, Uncle Narumi used to tell me legends of humans becoming genies and genies becoming humans. Are those stories actually true?

Ahh! My brain is loaded!

"What are you doing?"

Oh. I've just run my hands through my hair without noticing, making a huge mess of it. Oh. Well, there's nothing weird here. It's just me being my usual crazy self.

"Hurry up."

What? Natsume's already at a bend in the road. When did he get there so fast? Ah, screw this! I'm getting my magic carpet to carry me!

"How much further?" Hehe. I love floating!

"Aren't you enjoying how we're alone out here together? It's every girl's wish, you know."

"Death wish."

"What was that?"

Oops! He's not supposed to hear that! "Nothing! When are we going to get there?"

Whoa! I feel an intruding hand around my waist. Get off—ahh, ouf. My bum hits the floor again? Well, it's my fault this time for not anticipating it. After this morning, who knows how else he's going to abuse me? More grabbing? Oh, thanks. Didn't expect him to pull me up there.

Talk about Mr. Bipolar.

No, wait for it. Ah, I knew it. His arm's tightening and his face is coming closer. Déjà vu. I swear we've been through this already.

"Why are you always doing that?" Get away, get away.

"I'm examining your facial features." Mmhm. Because pulling a girl's face up close and examining her facial features is such normal human behaviour.

"And? Well? Was I satisfactory by your scale?"

"You know, you look a lot like Mikan Sakura. You wouldn't happen to know what happened to her would you?"

"No." At least I'm telling him the truth. I'm so clueless about the me of the past it's almost killing the me of the present! I so desperately want to know how I made myself into another race. But, then that information's going to trigger all kinds of things. Ugh! I hate this! I hate this! Why do things have to turn out this way? It's so unfair to me! "And I don't look anything like her." That's also true. The six thousand year old me is a lot geekier.

"Psh. I know. I was kidding. Mikan Sakura is way prettier than you."

Wait, my brain is overloaded already. Let me get this straight for a second. So if I'm Mikan Sakura, then I'm prettier than me but at the same time I'm also Mikan Yukihira who is uglier than Mikan Sakura, who is also me. Then what exactly is the standard that he's comparing me-slash-Mikan-Sakura to? Is he complimenting me or is he insulting me? What do I say?

Anyone who doesn't lead a double life, trust me, it's all sorts of awkward to be compared to yourself. Well, I guess no one's ever been compared to themselves so I'm alone in this matter.

"We're here." Oh yay! Where is "here?"

Looks to me like "here" is a building. But I'm seriously scared to even go near the building. It's surrounded by a fence of yellow caution tape and frankly, it looks World War Three went in there. For goodness sake, I swear it's even tiled on a five degree angle. Do I have to go? Is there even a way to get inside?

Ah! What are you doing? Don't touch the caution tape. Did you just make a hole in the fence? No, wait, it's been there all along. People actually hang out in this place? Wait, what's he doing, going inside that thing? Don't leave me!

"This building looks like it could collapse any minute now."

"There's nothing wrong with this building. It was strong enough to survive the earthquake ten years ago." An earthquake? So it really can collapse at any given moment?

Eep.

No, don't drag me into the building! I want to live, Natsume! Now I'm _really_ scared. The outside is terrifying enough, but inside, there's dust and cobwebs everywhere. Why is this building even up? Aren't they marking it for construction? Does that mean a giant iron ball can smash into the walls any time and kill both me and my master? Where are we even going? Oh, he stops. A classroom?

"It's got to be here somewhere." Amazing, desks are still there. Geez, I swear he makes more dust than my mom when he searches through those desks. Hey! There's a genie here coughing vigorously. Don't just ignore my welfare and keep looking! Genie abuse _will_ be reported!

"What are you looking for?"

"Aha!" Hm? An envelope? It's yellowing by now, and it looks a little bit tacky, what with the orange heart sticker holding it together and all. I wonder what's in it. "She never got the chance to read it. I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

Boy am I curious. Was he really _that_ crazy for me back then? Six right? So that's six thousand in genie years. What? Six thousand year old genies are like infants! The most it could have been is just puppy love right? I'm not even sure if six year olds humans in this day and age can _like like_ someone. Don't they still believe in cooties?

But still, six year old Natsume's first grader scrawl is adorable. Aww. It's turning me into a big pile of goo. I can just feel my cheeks stretching wider every line.

_Dear Mikan,_

_Yeah, yeah. Well, I see you alone every day and I wanted to make friends with you. No. Umm, that's not really why I'm writing this. You see, I like you. Like, I really like you. WELL, OF COURSE I DO. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS LETTER WAS FOR, ANYWAYS?_

_Listen up here. I don't want to play Mr. Nicey Nice guy no more. I want to you to stay away from stupid guys like Yuu, Hoshio and that weird guy who looks like me! YOU'RE MINE, Got that?_

_With Love,__  
__~ your secret admirer, Natsume (You're still mine no matter what you do)_

I wish—I really need—Someone, please, just kill me. Kill me now and I'll die happily in bliss. I can't take this fluffiness anymore. Natsume was so, _so_ adorable when he was six. I can't even manage to grasp in my mind that he actually wrote this for me. He wrote it for_ me_. He _wrote_ it for me! _He _wrote it for me!

Someone, kill me now, because I _know_ I won't be able to resist his advances after this.

Oh, heart, be still. Oh tears, stay in my eyes. I beg of you. I can't let him know no matter what.

"I was fucking endearing as a child."

My dear god, he makes such an adorable grin. Why haven't I seen it before? What was I even thinking the first time we met, wishing that his blond friend would be my master? It's clear he and I are destined for each other.

"There's another sheet if you want to read that—hey, chill out. It's not like I'm going to keep it from you."

I don't care. I need to read these precious words.

_To: Mikan Hyuuga_—_My future Wife. (Whether you like it or not.)_

_You're mine. Yeah, you're mine. You've read the first letter and finally you've found this one. Here's my future plan for us both: after we get married, we'll make lots—_

NO! Where did it go? "You can't read that one." _Why?_

"Lots of babies?" Five words: Palpitations. All. Over. My. Body. "You cannot be serious, right?"

"_No_, lots of dandelions." How is it's possible to see him in such a different light than I did three hours ago? This boy is everything I'll ever want, I'm sure of it. "Yes babies. What else do married couples do? And I was a child, for your information. I didn't know a hoot about sex. Once again, I thought it was fucking endearing."

"I'm sure she'll think it's endearing." Oh, she does. "But I it might be too possessive to be romantic," I tease, when in fact, it's all that and so much more to me.

What a glare! "Tch, whatever."

* * *

"I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas! I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!" This is such a happy day! Nothing, and I repeat, _nothing_ can bring me out of this ecstatic mood! Natsume loves me! The world is upright! "Speaking of which, don't you, Master Hyuuga? An apple a day keeps the doctor away!"

"I like to eat girls' faces out."

Oh no mister, you're not going to be running away with anyone else on Mikan Sakura's watch! "Geesh, the six year old Master Hyuuga was so cute. What happened to you?"

"You happened to me, and look where we are now."

Actually, we're back in Natsume's mansion, and his mansion is as gorgeous outside as it is inside. Hm, what if we marry and I move in? That'll be so gorgeous! I can decorate the floors with furry red carpets and paint all the walls orange and—

"It's been a while since I slept with a girl." What's with that melancholy tone.

"Have you _ever_ slept with a girl?" And if so, what's her name and social security number?

"Nope, but I'm pretty sure I slept with lots of beautiful women in my past lifetime. You can be my first in this lifetime."

Oh, that smirk… "Um, no thank you." Sixteen thousand is still pretty young. We have time.

"Baby we can make magic together. All it takes is one touch."

"Or, as six year old Natsume puts it, get married and make lots of babies—" Eep!

Did he? Oh, he totally just tackled me to the floor. Ah! My stomach. No, anything but my stomach. Oh my god, that tickles so much! Stop! S-s-stop! This is torture! My poor stomach. My poor heart. My vision! Ah, the tears! Oh gosh, he's grinning to himself, isn't he? Even through the blurriness, I can see that teasing face. Can he feel my pulse, hear my heart pounding? When will he stop? This is lasting a lifetime! Ah, finally! Now I can breathe.

"Let me go! I can't see!" The entire world is a blur of colours.

Ah, thanks. I wasn't expect him to wipe tears from my eyes. His fingers are so warm. His hands are so warm. Oh god, I'm blushing again, aren't I? "Isn't this fun?" I think I feel my heart falling out of my body to join my stomach.

Ugh, my master's a sly one! He clearly knows that as a genie, I'm forced to tell him the truth.

"For you, yes."

"Not for you?"

"Are you kidding?" _Yes!_ "You're basically cheating on Mikan Sakura with me." If I can hit myself right now, I would. A thousand times. My improvising _sucks_. Why do I have to bring up that topic of all things?

"You know what, I think we should just put this Mikan Sakura thing on hold for now."

_On hold_? What does he mean put it on hold?

"I-I don't understand."

"Well if you can't find her, I doubt I can. And besides, I'm beginning to suspect that she's not in this world anymore."

Oh, if only he knows how right he is. "What do you mean she's not in this world anymore?"

Another mood change? I guess he doesn't feel playing anymore. He's staring at the ceiling in some sort of deep complication. I wonder what he's thinking. Oh, a lock of hair just fell over his eyes. I want to brush it away so much. Resistance, Mikan! Resistance! "Well, I just thought that you could help me find her. I don't think she was entirely happy. Her parents were killed in the earthquake ten years ago. Mikan was reported missing. I hoped for ten years that she would still be alive. I thought someone must have found her and brought her to an orphanage or something. Mikan… she's probably dead."

Oh lord. What have I _done_?

"You can't just give up now!" He can't give up on me! We're destined to be together! "That was just one Mikan Sakura. I can find all the Mikan Sakuras in the world if you want me to! Look, I can do it now!"

Come on, TV! Come on! Display me! Look, Natsume, look! There's another woman. Oh, no, she's middle aged. Another one… that's not even Japan! And another, and another, and another… Where am I? When is it going to show me? That's not—oh, lord. There's no more. That's the last one. The picture from Natsume's yearbook is the last Mikan Sakura!

No. No! No, no, no! This can't be! Why? What does this mean? Why isn't it showing me as I am right now? What's wrong with it? Are my powers not enough? Am I not Mikan Sakura after all? Did I get this entire thing wrong? Am I really just Mikan Yukihira, daughter of Izumi Yukihira and Yuka Azumi?

"I'm going to get some wine."

"You're underage." Lord, I'm as miserable as he is. I want to crawl into a cave. I want to dig a hole and burrow myself six feet underground.

"Whatever."

"That's it?" I sound lifeless. "Is that all? You're just going to forget about her after everything? After ten years of searching? You're just going to find another girl? Suddenly, she just doesn't matter anymore?" Mikan, don't snap, don't snap, don't—"You're not even going to try to look on the bright side? What if she is alive? What if she did get adopted? What if she changed her first name? What if she changed her last name? How can you just devote ten years of your life to finding her and give up after that little obstacle?"

Stop, Mikan! You can still stop now! "You're a _monster_! You are the worst person I have ever met. What about Mikan Sakura, huh? Don't you ever think of her? You said in that letter that she was lonely. What if she's still lonely now? What if she's waiting for someone to reach out to her? What if she's looking for you too?"

"Then she'll come find me." How can he say this so calmly? You deserve this pillow in the face. You deserve that duvet in the face as well! This is perfidy! I feel so, so betrayed. If he never cared for me in the first place, why did he make me think he cared? _Why_ did he make me fall for him? "I don't know why you're so concerned about her." Blows. Just blows after blows after blows. "You don't even know her."

"I—" No. He doesn't deserve to know my identity. I'm never going to tell him that I'm Mikan Sakura. I'll grant all his wishes, and then I'll return to my world and forget about him completely. He'll certainly forget about me. Maybe it's just as he said. Maybe we just aren't meant to be.


	4. Revelation

_____Official Disclaimer: ____A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**3: Revelation**

* * *

The princess, with no other choice, braced herself…

* * *

"I should start thinking about my second wish."

"Yes, please, before I give you a perpetual lesson in romantics." And to think a few hours ago, I was sure he has it down to point.

"I'll be right back." That's right. I need some time to reflect on what just went down. I think we both do.

Oh man, I really want to cry right now. How did I hold it in for all that time? Natsume's not the one who needs a less in romantics; I am. I don't know what's wrong with me. Why did I fall for him so suddenly? Why didn't I think first before I leap? I should have held back as soon as I began feeling it. And now… now I don't think I can ever be the same again. Really, this is ridiculous. Who ever falls in love in less than a day?

I mean, if I can like a guy that quickly then I can stop liking him just as quickly.

Right?

He's not even that nice of a guy. He's really arrogant if I really think about it, always bragging about getting all the girls, like he's a piece of something _real_ good. And he's so mean, and cruel, and heartless. Even if I grow to like him, nothing's going to come out of it anyway. It's not like he's ever going to like me back—not Mikan Sakura, and not Mikan Yukihira.

Geez, it's like I came purposely looking for it. I hope I can just sleep this off and feel better about myself tomorrow.

Shepherd's pie? Potato wedges? Oh, so he's back now.

"You look like you could use some wine too."

There goes my fickle heart, swelling. Ugh… "Yeah." No, I don't want wine. I don't want anything. I just want you to leave me alone so I can get over you. "Your parents don't mind you drinking wine?"

"They're usually pretty lenient."

I don't know if it's just me anymore. Everything he does is making it harder for me to get over him. Why does he have to sit across from me? Oh, why can't he sit beside me? I mean, if he's sitting beside me then I won't have to look at him. But right now, I can't help myself. I have to look at him. I can't look away.

"Why aren't you dining with your parents?" I am so miserable right now.

Why does his laugh have to sound like the soft jingling of chimes on a perfect, breezy day? "I'd choose sitting up in my room with an invisible girl any day." Yup, that smile is still adorable. I am going at zero miles per hour on my goal.

"My dad's out of town on business, and I am dining with mom. She's right here."

A photo frame? It's so elaborate. Oh, and the woman in the photo! She's so beautiful. I feel like I've seen her before! She looks so much like Natsume, with his eyes and his smile and his hair, only longer, cascading down her shoulders. Well, technically I should say that he looks like her.

"Your mother is beautiful." There's a huge lump in my throat right now. Once upon a time, she could have been my mother-in-law at the happily ever after. But Natsume just had to ruin it all for us.

Natsume… He's grinning now, actually grinning and showing rows of teeth. He never grins. It's so sweet, and it just makes my heart break all over again. He's so beautiful. And he doesn't even know the kind of glow he emanates. I wonder what he's thinking of, why he's so happy. I wish I can make him glow like that.

"She is, isn't she?" His voice is so raspy, so sexy. "She's always been beautiful, especially when she was alive."

His mother is dead? "I'm sorry." Oh, there you go again, Mikan, trespassing on his privacy. How insensitive that must have been!

"Don't be." Well, he's beginning to drink now. I suppose I shall follow suit. "She was a wonderful woman. She taught me not to fear death. Tonight we'll drink to her, and then we'll sleep. Tomorrow we must wake up early to go see stepsister dearest."

Is that sarcasm I catch in his tone?

"Cheers." _Clang!_ goes our glasses. Hehe, what a pretty sound.

"To Kaoru."

"To Kaoru." And to stop liking Natsume once and for all.

* * *

"Morning sunshine. What a night, huh? Hoarse from all the screaming last night?"

No. Voice, go away. Five more minutes!

Wait, what did he say? Last night? Screaming? It can't be! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! What happened? We didn't do it right? I don't remember anything. Oh please please, dear god, don't tell me he raped me. I mean, technically that's rape right? I'm pretty sure sex under the influence of drugs is rape. Empty wine glasses… I think my lifespan just halved.

"I have to say, I've never seen anyone with such big eyes."

H-how can he just talk to me so calmly like that, casually propping his head on his hand with that ador—arrogant smirk? He just took advantage of me in my sleep! He's a terrible person.

"Uh, well—that is—you and I had uh—like did we, you know, sex?" I have a tiny chipmunk voice.

"Obviously… Not." He rolls his eyes and I feel so damn foolish. What was I thinking? He's never slept with anyone in his life. He's only sixteen for god's sakes. "You're so gullible. We didn't even sleep in the same bed last night. This isn't even my room.

Oh. There's a different, bluer wallpaper.

"Are you sure nothing went on between us?" Everyone says it's fun and all, but my principle is no sex before marriage. And, well, it's not really legal for us to get marry at sixteen so I guess both of us are going to remain virgins for a while.

At least I am.

He better.

"If someone told you that your mother died, would you believe that even if you're already looking at her right in front of you? Get real. I don't have to get you drunk to make you have sex with me." He's creeping an arm around me again. I can already feel my heart throbbing painfully.

And to think I thought a night's sleep would bring my senses back to normal.

No! Not this again! His hand is not going anywhere near my body today. Why does he have this iron grip? Where does all this strength come from? Does he work out? Mmm… abs… Okay, no, focus Mikan! Away you go, Natsume's hand!

"Oh, so you're not going to rape me in my sleep, but you're going to rape me when I'm awake. Yeah, I see how it is."

"Mmhm." And his arm is back on me. Well, okay. If he wants to touch me so bad, I guess it can't hurt to—stop right there! Where is that hand wandering? Oh no you don't, Natsume!

I'm ditching you for my magic carpet! Oh hey carpet! How're you doing? I missed you! Hehe, now I'm across the room. How are you going to catch me now, Natsume? "You're a billion years too early to catch me in tag, master."

"If we really played tag, you wouldn't be running."

Humph. I can't make any comebacks to that without lying. Grr. You know, I think his arrogance is starting to get to his head. It can get really irritating sometimes. Given, I probably should be much, much more irritated with him. What can you do though? When you like someone, you always end up overlooking their flaws.

Wait, isn't that infatuation?

So I'm infatuated? I don't like him after all? Ahhhraagh!

"What's with that face?"

"What face?"

"That hulk face you were making just now."

"What hulk face?"

"I swear you were almost turning green a moment ago.

What is he talking about? "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind." What? I'm confused! Did I just do something weird?

"Tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Rawr! And if you don't tell me, I'm going to start punching you!

"This feels like a cat fight." I can't believe how easy it is for him to deflect my hits. Why does he make everything look so incredibly easy? "You do know that you hit and attack like a girl, right?"

Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious. "I _am_ a girl."

It's not a bad thing, if you overlook the fact that you're weak and dense and have absolutely no coordination whatsoever." Oh, so now he's sexist too? Well, I guess it's good. I mean, eventually I'll discover too many of his flaws to overlook them. And then I'll stop liking him. Right? Right…? "By the way, when you make a fist, you place your thumb _under_ your index and middle fingers to support them. Not _beside_, not _inside_, under."

"I know that! I wasn't even attacking you seriously!"

"Good then. We wouldn't want you hurting your hand now, would we? How else am I going to complete my wish if you're not here to snap your fingers for me?"

"There are genies who clap too, you know."

"And I had to get one that snaps? Blast my luck."

Oh geesh. Trust him to make it hard for me at every chance he gets.

"Well—" Quick, think of an insult! "Well I bet I can snap my fingers better than you."

"No you don't."

"Yeah I do!" I've had sixteen thousand years of finger snapping experience for your information!

"No you don't."

"Yeah I do!"

"Oh look a squirrel."

"What?" A squirrel? Like those fuzzy cute rabbit like but not really rabbit like creatures? Where? Where? Ahh, incoming arm! Ouf! Ow… My poor, poor derriere! He just wacked me off my carpet_again._Isn't this getting old?

And he dares to stick out his tongue at me! The nerve! Natsume Hyuuga is a big meanie.

"Stop it!"

"Sometimes I picture you as a ten year old in my mind."

"Well then, I hope you feel like a pedophile!" Who's ten? Who's ten? I'm _sixteen thousand_!

Wait, so I'm the pedophile? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Well as much as I'd love to keep exploiting you, we gotta go see stepsister dearest." Oh, there's that sarcastic tone again. I wonder what's up with his stepsister. Is there something wrong with her? "She might be too weird, and too pale, and too much like a ghost, or a mannequin, or doll, but if you overlook that fact, you'll be two peas in a pod. You're both freaks in any case."

"She can't even see me!"

"And thank god for that."

Humph.

Natsume, where're you going? Why're you shutting the door? No, wait! Don't leave me behind! Ugh, master… Come, carpet, let's go. At least you love me, right? What's that I hear? "Mikan's the best owner in the whole wide universe!"? Aww, I love you too!

"I hope you're not going to drag me to some shady place again like you did yesterday." I'm exhausted from catching up to him. Sometimes I think he's wearing stilts or something. "Why doesn't your stepsister live with you anyways?"

Huh. Maybe there is something between them. I swear Natsume's shuddering, just slightly. "Because she's too greedy and selfish and way too smart for her own good. I can't even bare to be around her at all. But she's like a goldmine for dad. He loves her and her 'ingenious' ideas. Sometimes I think he married my stepmother just to make her his daughter. Of course, then they divorced two years later, so now he's making me be the go-between."

Wait, his parents are divorced? Huh, I guess I learn something new about Natsume every year. Well, given that we've just met three years ago, I guess we're pretty much strangers. Heh. It just makes me feel worse. How can I possibly like someone I'm so in the dark about? Is it just because he used to like me? Did I get caught up in the moment? Ugh! Fickle, fickle Mikan!

You can't have fallen for Tsubasa or Kaname or Kitsuneme?

But noo! It just has to be Natsume.

"Wait, aren't you going to take like one of those speedy car thingies? Cabs, you call them? We're walking?"

"Shut up and enjoy the scenery."

_Fine. _I much rather enjoy the scenery anyways. Look at those pretty, bell shaped flowers! Daffodils, aren't they? They don't exist in the genie world. Actually, there are really few flowers in the genie world. It's all just clouds and more clouds and even more wisps of smoke up there. All the roads are clouds and all the lawns are clouds and everything's basically cloud except for our lamps. We only have flowers in flowerpots or in personal greenhouses.

Mom has a greenhouse! It's like a jungle in there! It's so awesome.

She says there are places like those on Earth too, but all I see is hard, gray concrete and brick and wood and more concrete. I mean, where's all the green? All the picture books I've been show have this luscious green field and I've only seen something like that twice in my life.

I want my green!

"You want your what?"

Oops! Did I accidentally say that out loud?

"Uh, like grass and stuff… You know, where's all the green?"

He's giving me a weird look. I don't know, okay? I don't know how to explain it! Stop judging me like that! "Isn't this green enough for you?"

Huh? Oh, he means the path, I guess. Weeeell… It's nice and all. There's lots and lots of trees lining the sidewalk, and some of them have pretty pink blossoms! Ooh, what I'll give to have a wreath of them in my hair! But really though, there aren't really _fields_, unless you count the Hyuuga family's garden. His garden is gorgeous! It's what I like to think my mommy's will be like if she ever gets a bigger lamp.

"We're here."

Really? That quickly? "Whoa!"

I didn't think that a prettier place than the Hyuuga mansion exists, but I'll honestly take his stepsister's mansion any day! They have black, holed, iron gates lining the whole thing that makes me feel like entering a palace in a storybook! And there's this vine threading in and out of the holes with pink, tuba-shaped flowers. And that's not even the beginning. Everything about this place is picturesque! I mean, there's a dirt road leading up to the mansion, and the mansion itself has a pointed roof, like a statuesque version of a little garden house. I feel like Snow White, stumbling onto the Seven Dwarf's house. No, no, I mean, Jack who's seeing the giants' home for the first time!

I think I just stepped right into a fairy tale.

The owner must be a princess! She has to be a princess! I won't have it any other way! I bet she's really, really pretty, with a cascading, midnight blue dress and silky, silver-blond curls. And when Natsume enters, she'll be smiling at him, and he'll take her hand and kiss it gently. Oh, the awe of beautiful siblings standing side by side! If his sister's wonderfully gorgeous and majestic, I can just die happily.

Screw Natsume. He's out of the picture for all I'm concerned. I'll marry his sister any day, just for this mansion.

Oh my god! Why can't I have this? Why is this not mine? Where's _my_ genie when I need one?

"Hurry the fuck up already."

What the—oh, he's there already, climbing the steps to the mansion. Oh, those beautiful, beautiful white marble steps, all glazed and shiny like a ballroom floor. I can almost see my reflection in them. Want…

"Are you in pain?"

"Yes…" I'm in _agony_.

"What, like PMSing or something? Do genies even PMS?"

Trust Natsume to ruin my beautiful moment. How can we have a fairy tale if the prince is an absolute jerk? I mean, I know it's hard to meet the criteria for a price; you have to be handsome, and smart, and strong, and brave, and kind. But all princes are courteous! Natsume's supposed to be the prince, but he's not courteous at all.

He's arrogant and selfish and womanizing! Okay, well maybe he's not really selfish. I mean, he hasn't wished for anything bad yet, right? And he's not completely a womanizer. The only girl he's ever flirted with is me (I hope), and I have a feeling he just likes to see me angry, the bully. And, well, he's arrogant. I can't make excuses for that.

Just to me though. And in a joking way.

Ahhhh! Mikan, why are you making excuses for him? You're supposed to be getting over him!

Ooh! Key! Whoa, pretty key! Pretty, antique key. It looks like something that's been used two hundred years ago. Actually, why didn't I notice? The door's design looks really ancient too. How long has mansion been here? A hundred, two hundred years? Maybe this is like sleeping beauty! Some witch must have casted a curse on this place to stop it from aging for a hundred years! And everyone who lives there is just waiting for a prince to come and rescue them!

I'm the prince. Just saying.

Natsume can be my sidekick—the Sam to my Frodo, or the Robin to my Batman, or the Chad to my Ichigo.

The point is that I'm getting this wonderful mansion because everyone's going to praise me for saving them and—

Aww!

It looks so plain from the inside! The walls are all blinding white and there's no carpet, only a black and white triangular tile pattern. There're lots of pots, but they're all blue china and they all have aloe in them. I don't even see stairs in this room! There's an elevator! Castles don't have elevators! I'm about to cry!

Elevator, why must you ruin my fantasy? Why?

"Stepsister's lab is on the second floor, and she rarely ever leaves there."

"Mm." I'm so depressed I can't even look at him. My hopes… My dreams…

And there isn't even elevator music!

"What's wrong with you? You've been acting weird for the whole day."

How can I possibly explain? It hurts my heart too much. Everything was so beautiful, so glorious, so picturesque from the outside! How can the interior of such a wonderful, storybook house be like this? It's tragic!

"This way," he hisses, dragging me by my shirt. Oh, my bad. But the halls! They all look the same! I thought this would have lots of twisting corridors and be all dusty and welcoming. But no! It feels like a laboratory in here. No wonder I almost got lost!

He's taking out another intricate key, and opening another room. Oh no, it's all white inside. Even more white. And there are so many beakers and papers and pieces of metal. Oh, this is so dreadful! I can barely look!

Is this a witch's lair? Are we not Snow White or Jack? Are we Hansel and Gretal? Is she going to do something horrible to us?

"Hotaru, I'm here!"

Oh. _Oh_. Oh, thank god, thank god! Thank god we didn't stumble into the home of the witch! There's no way such a pretty young lady can be a witch! She is a princess after all, just not the one that I imagined. She's not very Aurora, more like Jasmine or Pocahontas, or Mulan. Oh, her dainty, rosy lips! That ivory skin! Those captivating, mesmerizing violet irises! They look like they're staring right into my soul!

"Um." No! Stop talking to me, Natsume! That's the second time you've steamrolled my fantasy! "Hey, I'm pretty sure she's looking at you."

She's looking at me? At me or through me?

Wait, no. She's turning her head. Oh. I guess she can't see me after all. I almost wish she can. I so desperately want to talk to her! "Hyuuga, it's been long." Oh, her voice! It's so exquisite! It's like I'm sliding on a perpetual sheet of silk!

"Can you blame me for not wanting to come here?" Why? Why _ever_ won't Natsume want to be in a storybook house with a storybook princess?

"I suppose not."

"Today, though, it seems you've brought something interesting with you."

Oh my. She's coming towards me! My princess is coming towards me! Oh this is so exciting! She can see me! She's taking my hands! Her hands are so cold, so smooth, so perfect.

"Mikan!" The princess knows my name! "It's you, isn't it? I know it's you. It has to be." The princess is hugging me! I'm touching a princess! I'm hugging a princess! Oh wait, I'm not. I have to hug her back! "How could you leave me behind like that?" I'll never leave you! "When did you grow up? You promised! You did!"

Huh? Promise? "W-what promise? I don't remember anything. I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me!"

No! No, no, no! Why's she letting go? Why is she looking at me with such sorrowful eyes? Princesses aren't supposed to be so utterly _sad_! "Mikan what happened? Don't you know who I am? Your best friend? Your _only _friend?"

Say something! Anything!

"How can this be? How can you not remember me? I refuse to believe it…"

"How do you know Mikan?" Now Natsume's confused. Oh, what do I do? What do I do?

"I should ask you the same."

"She's my genie. Okay, I know it sounds stupid. I'm not even sure how it happened, but she is." His voice is flat. Wait, what's wrong Natsume? Does he not like having me as a genie? Have I been a bad genie to him? Is it because I couldn't find Mikan Sakura for him? Is his stepsister going to hate me now that she knows? I can't have both Hotaru _and _Natsume hating me! My world will be shattered to pieces!

"I see… So that's why you never came back to me. Mikan, do you like dolls?" Um, dolls? I guess… "I have a whole collection of them in my room: stuffed dolls and china dolls and Barbies. Lots and lots of Barbies. Don't you remember? You used to love Barbies the most…"

"Wait, I did?" How does she know?

"Yeah! I was your first Barbie." Her voice is so heartbreakingly pleading! "You brought me to life. Remember?"

_Huh?_


	5. Request

_______Official Disclaimer: ______A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**4: Request**

* * *

…for a long journey,

* * *

I honestly can't tell you who's more dumbfounded at the moment—me or Natsume. I feel betrayed, almost. What is my princess doing, lowering herself to my level? What does she mean she used to be my Barbie doll? Ahh, my head is spinning round and round! Right now, Natsume looks halfway between pensive and dubious. I think more pensive. Ahaha, he's so cute!

Okay, focus Mikan!

"I… uhm… what the what?"

With four steps, she closes the distance between us. Ahh, she's so swift and graceful, and ouch! She's pinching my cheeks and stretching them out like Tsubasa-moron the first time we met. Ow…

"You're so adorable." Why, oh why does she have to say it with such a poker face? Smile, princess, smile!

"What are you doing?" growls grumpy face, who clearly feels left out of the loop. Awwh!

Oh my god.

He just swiped at the princess. No, my highness! Well luckily, she's swifter than he is so she jumps back and he nearly hits me. Thank you, Natsume. That is much appreciated.

"What?" my princess stands like a cat on its hind feet, ready to leap back, or pounce. She's is so lovely! "You better hang your mouth, Hyuuga, before you inhale any dangerous vapours."

Natsume harrumphs. He does that a lot, doesn't he? Harrumphing, I mean. And grumbling. And snapping. And swearing. This guy needs to look on the brighter side of life. I wonder if the past me really did see something in him, or if it was one-sided love ten thousand years ago.

"I didn't know you were telling such blasphemous lies lately, sister."

"Disgusting, Hyuuga. Don't ever call me 'sister' again."

A stray strand of hair falls onto Hotaru's face. She's brushing it aside with her long, slender fingers. Oh, her fingers are so wonderful. They're so long and thin, ideal for hand modeling! And they're so even in complexion too! All her nails are perfectly round, and the creases so gentle it's as if there aren't any creases at all! They're like doll hands.

Oh my god… doll hands.

I can't believe I've been so caught up in the idea of having a princess that I haven't noticed it until now! Not only her hands, but her entire body and face is very doll like. Those perfect violet eyes are cradled with super long eyelashes—like the ones in mascara commercials. But she doesn't wear mascara does she? She works in a lab, after all. And her neck! It's so thin and abnormally long! I'm also noticing something now as she's talking to Natsume. She moves her joints way too mechanically, almost as if they're attached differently from everyone else's. And her waist! Eeks! It makes me fear for her.

She's actually very weirdly proportioned. It's a little creepy!

"What's wrong?" Ahh! It's scary! I don't know how she does it. One minute she's talking to Natsume and the next, you can clearly see her head snap to me.

Ugh, that's a very audible gasp I just made there.

"Mikan?" asks Natsume hesitantly. Oh thank god his voice is there to snap me out of my reverie.

"Uh, I…" Ahh, vocal chords, why do you fail me now? "I don't know!"

Then, I revert to an old habit that I've picked up somewhere along the road of life: I look down and cover my face with both hands. I know, I know. It's pretty stupid. I mean, just because I can't see everyone else doesn't mean that they can't see me. But, I'm not really good in awkward situations, you see, and oh, I just don't know.

I'm scared.

What if Hotaru knows my past? What if she knows all of it? Am I ready? Is Natsume ready? Is he going to hate me forever once he knows that I'm actually the girl he's searching for?

But I have future plans for us to get married together!

Even though I don't know how that's going to work out. I mean, we haven't really had a genie-human union before. That means that Natsume and I will be pioneers! Whoa! How exciting!

"Look what you did," I can hear Hotaru distantly scold in the background. "She's having a mental breakdown because of you."

"What the fuck did I do?"

"You questioned my existence." Oh, I can just see the icy glare that she's giving Natsume.

"What dumbass wouldn't question your existence? You think it's a normal occurrence when your stepsister randomly says 'oh, I used to be your genie's Barbie?'"

"I don't want to hear that from someone who tells me his girlfriend is a genie."

"She's not my girlfriend."

Oh. Uhm. Ouch. Thanks again, Natsume. I think I may just spend the next few hours in my lamp, or lying on my carpet, moping. Feel free to look for Mikan Yukihira without me. Oh, right, you no longer care for Mikan Yukihira either. Well in that case, feel free to think of your next two wishes. It's not like the genie matters, right? It's not as if the genie has feelings, right?

"I hate you both!" I yell, before swiftly riding away on my carpet. Gee, no one cares about Mikan, do they? It's always the prince's story, or the princess's story, or both their stories. No one cares about the fairy god mothers, do they?

Ah, why did Uncle Narumi have to make up that stupid law? Everyone's trying to make me cry on purpose.

Third floor, nothing really interesting. I guess I'll just venture out the window and spend the rest of my time in Hotaru's garden. It's a very nice garden. Maybe I'll ask her to give me some flowers for my mom's greenhouse—when we're talking again, of course. Was I too cruel, running out like that?

They were both kind of shocked. Well, it's not as if they have anything to worry about. I can't even venture more than five hundred feet away from my master.

Hm, I wonder if Mikan Yukihira was happier.

If only I can travel back in time, and ask the past me why she brought Hotaru to life. A doll… Mikan Sakura doesn't like dolls. Come to think of it, I've never really had one in the first place—when I was Mikan Sakura, I mean. I'm sure mommy could have gotten me one easily. It's just that we never really think of these things. Genies are different from humans after all.

What did I do in my childhood? Oh yeah, I spent most of my time trying to get away from Tsubasa's evil clutches, before they dispatched him to the other land of course.

He loved to molest my hair when we were little.

Heh.

Oh my god! Stranger danger! Ahh, hands! Foreign hands are touching me. I'm going to get kidnapped. I'm going to be shoved into one of those windowless vans and driven off to some mysterious land and get _eaten_. No, don't tickle me. Stop it! This is a very dire situation!

"Fire!" Wait, we're supposed to scream fire, right? Or is it 'help'? Never mind! Someone just come save me.

Ouch. The stranger's holding my head in between his hands. Oh my god, he's getting ready to mug me! Natsume, get your bum over here and be my human shield!

"I am going to sky uppercut you!"

"That's funny." Oh wait, I know this voice. But he—_no_, he isn't! "I swear your head hasn't grown a bit since thirty years ago."

"You!" I exclaim, turning around with an accusing finger. I don't usually point, but he's the only one in my life deserving of an accusing finger. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Clappyland clapping your hands with all the other clapping genies!"

"Miss me already, don't you?" Holy mother of god, did Tsubasa just do a hair flip? Who has he been seeing since we last saw each other thirty years ago?

"Who are you?"

"I—" Oh no! Please, no! Not the Tsubasa poker face! Get ready for some sleazy joke, Mikan. "Well the truth is, Mikan, I've actually wanted to tell you something for a while. I'm not really Tsubasa Andou. I'm a personal secret agent of Narumi, Lady Hii, the CIA, United Nations, and not to mention, Animax. My name is Michelangelo di Locovido Buonarroti Simoni… the seventh."

"Go back to your homeland!"

"Humph." He can float without a carpet. Gah, I've always hated how he's able to do that. And he does it in front of me on purpose! He just can't let it go that I flunk my floating lessons every time I take them. "As if I even want to be here in the first place!"

"Oh yeah. What happened? I thought you were on vacation!"

"Yeah…" Hah! Hah! I just know karma's going to get him one day. Look, he trips mid air and stumbles to the ground. That's what you get! Nya, nya! "Let's just say Lady Hii shortened my hundred year vacation."

Lady Hii is awesome! "Oh? By how much?"

"Ninety nine years and three hundred sixty four days."

So he basically never left his lamp.

"Oh no, poor you!" He looks like he's in desperate need of a hug. So I give him one, because, you know, I figure that Natsume won't mind. Much. I mean, it's not as if I'm his _girlfriend_, right? It's not even like I'm cheating on him, right?

"Thanks Mikan." His smile, it's so… so _grim_! I'm not good with this Tsubasa.

"Smile, you!" Wait, did he gain weight lately? Ooh, his cheeks are so stretchy! It's like I'm playing with a stress ball! "Tsuba—oh sorry, Michelangelo di Loco Koko Buena Vista VII, have you gotten fat?"

What's with that weird look? Ouch! Stop it! Stop grabbing my head. You're crushing my delicate skull! I'm going to get a concussion! "Only you can turn Italian into Spanish."

How did I—what did I do? Ow, ow, ow, ow! BULLY! "You're a big bully Tsubasa and I hope you grow old, shrivel up and die a painful death inside a volcano at the bottom of the sea. Alone!"

"Oh Mikan. Mikan, Mikan, Mikan." God, I hate it when I use that patronizing tone with me! It's like he thinks I'm still seven thousand years old. "Little do you know that I have a beautiful girlfriend."

"Hah! Who would date you?"

…Ow! Ow! My head, you barbarian!

"It just so happens that I do have a girlfriend, and she's just waiting for me to get home so we can go on our sixty year vacation."

"So you left her." Ooh, bad boy. Tsubasa's gonna get it…

"No, I didn't leave her… per se. I was just forced into overtime, but it'll all pay off because Hii-sama's going to pay me thrice as much for this trip."

"Yeah. So you left her."

"Okay, I left her. Are you happy now? At least I have someone to leave."

Oh no you didn't! Low blow, low blow!

See the kind of guys I've had to deal with for my entire life? It's either this guy coming over to the Snapping Genie Land to bully me or it's that mean guard Mochu stopping me from going to my beloved fluffy cloud park. Or it's granddaddy Noda asking for directions to some ancient place that's been long demolished. Or it's Koko popping up randomly with a party blower in my face.

Or it's stupid Natsume with his stupid face and his stupid attitude who I am so not thinking about right now. Oh, yeah. He is the furthest thing from my mind at the moment. Exactly like Tsubasa, that boy is! Which girl in her right mind would want an emotionally stunted boyfriend?

Humph.

_Why?_ Why didn't he chase after me? I—do I really mean that little to him? I mean, _I'm_ supposed to the victim in this relationship, yet he's always acting like I've done him some injustice or something! It's _him _who always flips my carpet. It's _him_ who always gropes, or _tries_ to grope me. It's _him _who plays the mean pranks, like he's never graduated kindergarten!

I wish he never showed me that letter…

"Hey. Stop pretending like I'm not here."

Yeah Tsubasa, well if you're there, at least make your presence known by saying something, instead of letting my mind wonder on its own and—

"Mikan, you look like you're about to cry."

There puffs my cheeks in anger. "You're a stupid butthole. I hate you!"

"What the—what did I even do?"

"Nothing," I huff, because he so doesn't deserve to know the truth. As if I'm letting him know that I've developed a crush on my master. Next thing you know, he gets back and I'm going to be the laughing stock of my land. "Or everything, whichever one you choose. The tabloids are getting on my nerves. You just had to come to the human world two days after they put us together in some sketchy magazine. Now watch, as soon as we go back, there'll be a new batch of rumours in both genie lands about us, _again._ And I'll be the one who has to resolve everything, _again_. And you will just be that good for nothing sea slug who neither denies nor admits to anything, _a__gain_."

"Why anyone ever engage me to someone like you?"

Right back at cha! "That's what I'd like to know! Now get away from me. Shoo!"

"Don't treat me like a bug." But you are! A very annoying bug that I've been trying to get rid of for thousands of years, my lord! "Look, Mikan, believe it or not, I'm actually glad that you're here this time, okay?"

Of course you—wait, you're what?

I cannot believe this. Right now, he's running a hand up and down his neck. It's a habit of Tsubasa's and he only does it when he's nervous. Okay, he's like blushing or something. This is really making me nervous. I kind of want to run away, but then the only place I can possibly go is back into the mansion and I don't want to see Natsume right now.

Well, I do. But, you know. He probably doesn't want to see me… Or worse, he doesn't even care whether I'm there or not.

"Look." I should be running. This is so creepy! I've never see Tsubasa this _nervous_ before. "Do you remember the time Rui was chasing us, and you left me so he ended up pushing me down the slide and giving me this scar?"

Yeah. Of course I do. How can I possibly not remember it when you've been guilt tripping me for thousands of years? Tsubasa is one of those people whose head is so big you think he's going to float off like a hot air balloon any moment now. He always bullies me for leaving him on that day, and then next thing you know he does a complete three sixty and starts telling all the Clapping Geniettes how he got it fighting off some huge hulk bully with bare fists.

Hah! As if! Rui had him screaming for his mommy!

"So here's an opportunity for you to make it up to me." Definitely suspicious. "I really, really need you to get your master—or mine—to switch in another genie for me."

My goodness. If you're going to ask for a favour, you might as well as for it straight out. Don't ever guilt trip me into doing something for you. I will not stand for it! "And why should I? You already bullied me enough to make up for that incident two times over!"

"Look, I really, _really_ need this."

"Tsubasa!" I admonish, and I swear to god it's the first time I get to chide him for a change. "You should know better. We can't use wishes for our selfish wants! It's against the genie law!"

"Well, it's not really a solid law so…"

"Tsubasa!"

"No, hey, pause for a sec and listen to me, Mikan. You don't know how brutal it is for me right now. My girlfriend, Misaki was in Lady Hii's personal loop, club, Hana Hime thing and she's been glaring daggers at me ever since we got together."

Oh right. I hear the Clapping Genie World's ruler, Hii has a mild fetish for girls or something. Well, she's a real weirdo but people say she's on par with Uncle Narumi in terms of greatness. So I guess Tsubasa _would_ have it bad for taking one of her girls away.

I mean, I've never been on Uncle's bad side, but I can just imagine…

Okay. Fine. I'll try helping him out, but he's still getting the crossed arms and _you're-crazily-impractical_ look from me. "After this you're going to be my personal slave for five thousand years."

"One thousand."

"Five thousand."

"Two thousand five hundred."

"Five thousand."

"C'mon Mikan. I'm practically begging here. Three thousand. That's most I'm willing to go."

"Four."

"Okay! Four years! Done deal."

"Oka—no, wait, what? Four thousand, you dink!" Here's a smack upside the head! And yes, you totally deserve that, Tsubasa.

There's the resigned grumble! "Fine, I'll be your slave for four thousand years if you'll just get me out of this one." Yes! I am so good I'm practically made of awesome!

Now, how am I going to do this? Hm. Hmm. Hmmmmm… Nope, can't think of a way. I hope Tsubasa has better ideas.

"So… how are you going to do this?"

Well, you know what they say. Geniuses think alike. "Uhm…"

"I heard old Naru threw down an opposite sex law. Did he?"

"Yeah."

"Great, so like you can seduce your master into granting a wish for you!"

"Yeah…" I really hope that batting my eyelashes counts as seduction, because that's all the seduction I know how to do.

"What am I even saying? You have zero sex appeal."

Hey! I'll have you know that I am oozing pheromones left and rig—

"Hey, you. Hey! We're going!" Oh geez, can't he at least call me by my name? Is it that hard to call me Mikan? Or maybe, maybe he doesn't want to… I mean, Natsume probably thinks it's cruel fate that he gets paired with a genie who has the same first name as his first love. I wonder if, in his mind, he's constantly comparing the present me to the past me.

"Who's that?" Oh, right, Tsubasa doesn't know about him. I forget.

I feel like some kind of great calamity's going to go down. Natsume's expression eminently changes as he sees Tsubasa. Maybe he's jealous! Just kidding. In your dreams, Mikan. But he does seem to be a little rigid. Well, I don't blame him I suppose. I wouldn't be that happy either if I see some foreign man on my sister's beautiful, picturesque garden.

"Well, he's the person that you have to get through in order to get back to Misaki." Tsubasa, please take a hint at the whisper and don't say anything that's going to make me look like a complete fool in front of him!

Hah. I see Natsume's face become more and more puzzled as he comes closer. Take that. Wonder, Natsume, wonder with all your being! Let the curiosity eat you away. I hope your brain comes up with a thousand different theories about my relationship with Tsubasa.

Ew. Did I just say we have a relationship? I totally take that back. Tsubasa is like… a piece of gum. Disgusting. Unwanted. Totally needy… You step on it once and it sticks onto you for half a lifetime.

"Don't. Screw. This. Up." Ew. Ew. Tsubasa's whispering in my ear and it just gives me all sorts of shivers—of the wrong kind—down my back.

"You want to introduce me to your friend?" Whoa… When did Natsume get here? I swear he was way around the bend practically a minute ago. Ouch. God, abusive master! Stop manhandling me!

"Hey!" So apparently Tsubasa _didn't_ get the clue. Hah. Talk about screwing up; he's the one who's going to make miso soup out of our entire situation. And now Natsume's narrowing his eyes at us. Gah! What do I say? What do I do? Should I start batting my eyelashes now? "Hold on!" Don't speak, you idiot! "I still need to tell her something."

"Who the hell are you?" See what you did Tsubasa? You just made Mr. Grumpy ten times grumpier!

"No one significant! He's just…uh… Well, you see…" And just because I have the IQ of a peanut butter sandwich, "this is my 'fiancé,' Tsubasa Andou."

You have no idea what it's like to be on the receiving end of _two_ deadly glares.


	6. Advice

_________Official Disclaimer: ________A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**5: Advice**

* * *

gathering mysterious friends and allies along the way.

* * *

It's bad enough that Natsume doen't react to this statement the way I thought he would, but he seems to have absolutely no reaction. None! What is up with this sudden phase of apathy? I mean, no questioning about why I've never brought it up before? No comment on our age?

Wait, do people still have arranged marriages this day and age?

…I don't think so, but…

"We're going." Ooh, is that a hint of iciness in his tone? I think he's finally showing some emotion!

"I'm not her fiancé." And Tsubasa speaks up. Well he would have sooner or later. I totally just took advantage of him, not that he has any right to complain. You, sir, are going to be my personal slave for the next four thousand years. Mwahahahaha.

Ahem.

Natsume must think he's James Bond or something, what with this fake air of coolness around him. "I know that. You can't possibly be her fiancé." Ooh, burn Tsubasa, _burn!_ You hear that? You hear that? Yeah. My lover has come to defend me, baby! "You're a genie and she's not." Mmhm. That's right. Yeah—

Wait, did he just—or maybe—or just… Did he just say what I think he said? "Excuse me? I am totally a genie! Didn't we go over this the first time we met? I even showed you the seals on our hands! This one!" Yeah, this one. This lamp mark right here! I swear he saw it that time!

Don't you roll your eyes at me, mister! "You're not a genie. Come, we're going. Sister's boyfriend showed up and she doesn't want us around."

"Sister's boy—oi! You know Ruka?" Ruka? Ruka Ruka? Isn't that Natsume's best friend Ruka? He's dating Hotaru? This is such a small world!

Whoa, I think… I think I'm seeing Natsume send an even icier glare than the one he gave me earlier. This is… news. Why does he choose now of all times to get angry? I can't place my finger on it. I don't think Tsubasa imposed on him or anything.

Weird.

I can't tell what's going on in his head at all. It's driving me crazy!

"Ruka's my best friend." Stony voice, stony glare. I am so glad that I'm not standing where Tsubasa is right now.

"Then can you convince him to switch another genie with me? It's short notice but I really need to be somewhere else right now!"

"Convince him yourself. Ruka's a pushover. It's not like he's going to refuse anyway. You, hurry up and come!"

Well obviously someone their knickers in a knot! If he's going to treat me like this, I rather have the five hundred meter barrier force me to follow him. I—he—whatever's bothering him, why doesn't he just tell me? Haven't you treated me badly enough, Natsume?

"Bye." I barely even manage to utter the word to Tsubasa before Natsume tows me away. Honestly! What is this? Ugh, let go! "Natsume? Why are you so _grumpy _all of a sudden?"

It makes you so much less handsome and so much more hideous. I don't like seeing you like this. At all. I'll even rather take the pervert that I encountered when we first met.

"No reason." Liar!

"I know you're mad. Tell me what's on your mind."

Naturally, he goes and does the opposite. Oh, what did I expect? For him to open up to me? Right, like that'll happen. First of all, I'm not his girlfriend. Second of all, I'm not a genie. I might as well be no one then!

Come, carpet. We'll have a little journey of our own.

"Hey! Where are you going?" So he does notice that I've fetched my carpet. Huh. I thought he would miss it like he misses everything that happens to me.

"Look." I don't remember sounding so cold. This is the first time I've used this tone with him. It hurts… "I have to stay within a five hundred meter radius of you. That's it."

Five hundred meters of freedom, huh? I feel better now that Natsume's becoming smaller and smaller as I soar into the sky. Five hundred meters is enough for a nice overview on the city. It's so magnificent! It's so different from our city of clouds, but also beautiful in its own way. Up here, it's so easy to lose Natsume somewhere down below to the bustling streets, so I can stare into clouds and picture a scenario where he and I are happily together.

What a lovesick moron I am.

* * *

Time in the human world passes by so slowly! One day here is about three years in the genie world. How many years am I going to have to remain here? Tsubasa… he's probably already back in his land. Next time we see each other he's going to tease me about my stunted growth again!

I wish there's magic in the human world. Without magic, genies can't grow or age or do anything. I'll stay as a minor forever! Yuck!

On top of that, I'm borrowing magic for my flying carpet. But I don't want to go inside. I don't want to see Natsume…

"Still sulking?" His voice penetrates the walls once in a while. Why does his room have to be on the top floor?

Good luck trying to get an answer from me! My lips are tightly shut!

"Do you want shepherd's pie?"

Do I—why, of course I would like some shepherd's pie! Delicious food, that stuff! I don't know why we don't have it in the genie lands!

Oh. Hi Natsume. Wait… How did I end up in his room?

…You're a stupid glutton for punishment, Mikan.

"Done having a hissy fit yet?"

How crude! I wasn't having a hissy fit! I just needed some time to…blow off my anger. You can't seriously tell me you don't have hissy fits either! It's all you've been doing for the past five years!

Oh god. Five years. It's only been two human days since I've been in there. That is seriously fast. Really fast.

I think my head's spinning.

"Don't pass out on me now. I still need you for two more wishes."

Mmm. Shepherd's pie. I'm having a love affair with you right now so I'll just pretend that Natsume never said anything. In fact, who is Natsume Hyuuga anyways?

"Hey, face me when I'm speaking to you."

It might be me, but I think I just heard something.

"Hey!"

Ow, my food! Ow, my arms! Let go of them! I'm going to drop this. I'm going to… It feels like forever since I last swam in those eyes. I missed you. I really did. I missed the touch of your skin, even though you're squeezing my arms for a vengeance for some reason. Natsume, it hurts! Be gentle! Sheesh!

Your stare—it's as if you're see me down to the core of my very being. I feel naked. Ah. How embarrassing. My cheeks are heating up. Eep… I hope it doesn't show too much.

"I'll be taking this." No! My shepherd's pie! "Only good girls get food."

"I've been a good girl."

"Oh have you now?" It's that tone! It's that musky tone that gets me hot and bothered. "I recall you running out on me a while ago. 'I hate you all,' was it?"

"I was—I was… uh." Oh no! Improvise! White lie, white lie!"

"Overreacting?"

"Yes. I was overreacting. Right. But still! I feel like you've been treating me in a less than satisfactory manner lately, and that's not acceptable!"

That face. That look. I knew it! He's coming closer. A lot closer. Eep! My brain is going to turn into a pile of goo soon. Very soon.

"S-s-stop! That's a good distance right now, where you are!" At least until I manage to sort out my feelings for you.

That's right. What's happening here? Am I trying to get closer or am I running away? It feels like I'm trying to do both, and playing tug of war with myself.

"Never mind." Huh? Wait, is this real? Is he actually backing off? Someone is definitely out of character today! Normally, he would just ignore whatever I say and come closer anyway. Did something happen today that put him out of the mood… Is he actually mad that I ran out on him earlier?

Should I apologize or… Wait, what am I saying? What do I have to apologize for? But maybe I should. I like this new Natsume. He's giving me more space, but it feels rather strange, like something's entirely off with him.

Who are you and what have you done with Master Hyuuga?

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep." W-Wha? You don't sound tired at all! "We'll talk tomorrow. Turn the lights out for me."

So nothing's going to happen tonight after all? And here my heart is pounding like an idiot because I thought he was actually going to go all the way through and kiss me this time. Stupid Mikan! Stupid Mikan! I knew I never should have let my imagination carry away!

"Did you hear me? Turn off the lights."

Oh. Right. Lights. There you go.

"Oh, and Mikan?" His voice sounds so much sexier in the dark… I swear I get shivers all over my body just from hearing my name. Hold up! This is the first time Natsume said my name! Yes! Yes! We did accomplish something today! "Hey. Stop jumping up and down like an idiot and listen to me."

Oh my god. He saw? He saw. Ahh! I'm never going to live this down!

"Tomorrow, don't talk to me until I get home from school. I don't want my classmates to think that I'm schizophrenic."

Right. They can't see me. Well, Ruka can. But the rest of them can't. Fine. I'll do it for you. Only for you. Even though you probably don't deserve it. Oh, this boy! One moment he's Jekyll and then you turn around and he's all Mr. Hyde again.

But he's adorable nonetheless. Hehe. "Night Master Hyuuga!"

"Don't giggle. You're creepy."

* * *

Well he tells me to entertain myself for a year. He says it with such a jaded look on his face too! I don't know why. I love this place! Seriously! It's awesome! I've gotten lost at least fifty times already!

I love how I can just drift in and out of classrooms like a ninja because no one can see me. And I can make faces at people. I can even do bunny ears. I feel so awesome!

But you know what the best thing is? In between classes every time, all the students have to suffer the traffic jam of bodies while I can just float on my carpet and zip past—whoa! Swerve! What in the mother of—that boy must be at least a hundred ninety centimetres tall! Isn't this supposed to be high school?

What are these kids being fed, I swear. Whoa, that girl looks like she's not being fed at all. And that boy too. His veins are almost sticking out. Eck.

Oh wait. That's Koko. Never mind.

Hold up, hold up, hold up! _What_ in the Snapping Genie World is Koko doing here? And why is he so young? I kid you not, that archaea looks the exact same as he did last I saw him… Uhm, ten thousand years ago was it? He's like the same age as Mochu the guard! He's practically prehistoric! Definitely pre-Golden Age. So why doesn't he look old at all?

"Shouldn't your hair be whiting?"

He looks up… He sees me… "Ah, and how's my favourite great granddaughter doing?"

This is why I love this guy.

"My great grandfather is Granddaddy Noda, you dork!"

Yup. Definitely Koko. You can always tell because when he smiles he can practically put Crest out of business. "Come over here and give me a hug! Holy, you're big! Last time I saw you you were just a midget! This tall." Okay, okay! No need to demonstrate and embarrass Mikan with the shamefully small amount she's grown since.

"Have you found the fountain of youth lately? Last time I saw you, you looked exactly the same!" Even his hugs feel the same! Except now I can actually, you know, reach. Kind of… _Okay_, barely.

"Okay. I admit it. I was actually serving punishment for a crime I committed while I was younger. I was appointed to someone severely autistic for ten thousand years. He couldn't even speak, so he never did get to make a wish. I thought his autism would eventually grow milder, but it never did. He just died five hundred years ago."

Oh. Oh. That's so sad. It must have been so cruel on Koko. Koko, who loved teasing me as a child. Koko, whose smiling face never falters. But his smile looks so worn down now. Oh, give me another hug! There aren't enough hugs for the amount of sadness in this world! Smile, Koko, smile!

"Thanks Mikan. But we shan't talk about that now! It's my first day on the new job. Can you believe how lucky it is? I thought Hii-sama was going to punish me some more but she actually sent me to a really nice master!"

Huh? "Wait, you're in the Clapping Genie Land now?"

Oh no. I know that look! I totally know that guilty look! So that's why I haven't seen him for five hundred years! I thought something didn't add up! "Narumi kind of expelled me from the Snapping Genie Land."

What? Dear uncle and I are going to have a serious face to face talk soon! "Why would he do that? I'll convince him to bring you back."

He actually looks worried at my suggestion? "No, no, no! Don't concern yourself, Mikan! The whole thing's quite complicated and it happened when you were a wee child."

When I was a wee child? Hmm. I can't remember—oh! _Oh_. He must mean the trial and death sentence of Sumire Shouda. Mom and Uncle always tell me that I've been there and seen it happening, but I don't remember a thing. I just know that incident through textbooks and history class. Wait, don't tell me Koko had something to do with it!

"What did you do?"

"Let's just say I was a guard who didn't exactly fulfill his, uh, duties." His voice is so cautious. I don't like it this! Why can't you just tell me straight out? What do I need to worry about?

He has this look on his face. I can't explain it. It's like he's dazed, maybe a little nostalgic, maybe a little regretful too. But it makes him look so sad. He looks like he needs another hug. But would two hugs be too much? I mean, obviously he's not going to get any ideas in his head but I feel guilty. I should be hugging Natsume!

Class has started too! I was planning on making faces at him in his classroom. Aww. I wonder how he's doing…

"Anyways!" Yay! The Koko I know is back! "How are you doing with this wish granting business Mikan? Going nice so far?"

"Yes sir! I just got my third master seven years ago! And I saw that dinky Tsubasa two years ago. It's so amazing how we're all here! We should all get our masters and just go out to party some day!" Although… Natsume will probably be really grumpy, or maybe he won't hang with the other masters because they're not rich enough. How do rich kids think these days anyway?

"Oh! That kid. Actually, he's already gone. I'm here as his replacement. We can still be a party of four though!"

Oh. Wow. Stinky Tsubasa actually got Ruka to switch masters for him! See, Ruka is so nice and considerate of his genie! Why can't Natsume be the same? He should have given me something to do instead of making me entertain myself. Humph.

Well, it's not as if I have a problem doing that. He's just not really that sweet.

Koko's a much better guy! I would so go for him if only he isn't so… old.

"Hey, Loco Koko, how old are you anyways?"

"Twenty—uh, twenty two, three thousand?"

"That's _young_!"

"Still older than you in any case!"

"Mochu is like thirty thousand years old. Doesn't that mean you'd also be thirty thousand if you aged properly?"

"Mochu and I would both be at least forty thousand years old if we aged properly."

"Yuck! You're the same age as my mom! I should be calling you Uncle Koko!"

Thankfully Koko has a sense of humor. At least he can take a joke. His laugh is so merry you'll never think he was all solemn and pensive a few minutes ago.

"Your mom would be much older than us if she aged properly. Alright, let's go up to the rooftop. I want to get some air."

"Yup! Wait, just let me check in with my master first! I'll meet you there!"

"Haha. Okay." Whoa! He's gone already? That's really, really fast! I guess I really can't measure up to Koko after all.

Okay. Let's do this Mikan! Goal: meet Koko on the rooftop in five minutes!

Right…Uhm, which way is Natsume's classroom again?

* * *

Well it looks like Natsume's getting all good and friendly with this green haired girl in his class. Humph! What's so good about her anyways? To me, it seems like she's a really pushy, clingy kind of girl. Maybe he's into that? No… I'm pretty sure he's not. But she's practically hanging off his arm! Grr! It just makes me so mad!

Not that I have a right to be mad. But I can't help it.

Her hair's pretty ugly too. It looks like seaweed! Okay. Well, maybe it's not _that_ ugly. You're hearing this from a girl who keeps her hair tied up in pigtails because they get impossibly unruly when I don't. Natsume's fangirl's hair is more unique, really. It's not straight and it's not curly but it's both at the same time.

Either way, it looks like they're having fun together so I shall go back to my state of nonexistence again. Off to the rooftop it is with Koko. At least one boy—old man, ahem—appreciates me around here.

"Sorry I'm late!"

"What took you? I finished five onigiri while you were gone."

Holy! "Five? Do you have a wormhole inside your body?"

What a lazy bum, this guy, flopping down on his carpet right after his meal. "Human food is good!" God, yes! I totally agree! "I miss my girlfriend's cooking though."

"I bet your girlfriend's a granny now." No harm in sneaking a jab in once in a while.

"She's pretty young, actually. I think. Either she's around your age or she's way older than us both. I don't know if genies still age when their powers are stripped."

When their powers are stripped? Oh. Oh… He never told me his girlfriend was Sumire Shouda—is Sumire Shouda. They probably haven't seen each other for thousands and thousands of years. It must have been so hard on them both. I can't imagine being away from Natsume for even fifty years.

Wow. I'm pretty weak, aren't I?

"Hey," I ask him, "how do you bear it?"

"Hm?"

"You've been separated for ten thousand years, haven't you? How do you bear it?"

Oh. What a hollow smile. "Ten thousand isn't that long, not when you've had a huge falling out with her right before you two separated. Most people never see each other again after breaking up. If I'm lucky, I'll get glimpses or something."

Ahh! I feel myself stepping into dangerous territory! I really really want to know what happened between him and Sumire, but I really don't want to ask, not when he has an expression like that. C'mon, Mikan. C'mon! You can't be insensitive like Natsume is. That's not nice.

"But that's so… sad. I miss my master even if I don't see him for a few hours." I miss him now, actually.

"Your master, eh?" He's wriggling his brows. Ack! Did I just give myself away? No! Why must you always have these moments? Stupid Mikan! Stupid Mikan! I really need to watch what I say! "Wait." Oh no! Here it comes! "Didn't you say that you've known your master for only seven years?"

Crap! "Uh… Well the thing is… I know him for seven years but he says he's known me from ten thousand years ago."

"What do you mean?"

Well, here goes nothing. "Well, he kind of showed me a yearbook and I was kind of in it. I don't know how. I just was… He told me the girl's name is Mikan too, Mikan Sakura. But the strange thing is when I tried to search for Mikan Sakura, I wasn't recognized."

"Wait." Okay, he's sitting up now, and actually listening intently. Although I don't know how concerned I should be over his concerned face. "You searched for yourself? So he made a wish to look for 'Mikan Sakura?'"

"Yeah." Hey look. A tree. What an interesting tree. I think I shall just stare at you from now on, when it starts getting way too awkward to look at Koko. "Uhm. Well the thing is he actually says he's been in love with me… or rather, the me of my past life."

"I see." Just that. Nothing more.

"And I know it's bad for me to have these feelings. I mean, it's only seven days and I have no solid evidence that I am that girl. He probably doesn't like her either. He stopped searching for her the other day, you know? He thinks she—I am dead."

"I see." Again?

"What should I do?"

Whoa. Koko is really spaced out. There's something wrong with his eyes. They're almost dead. He's been doing a lot of spacing out today, actually, and acting nothing like the Koko I once knew. I wonder if I brought up any bad memories by bringing up his girlfried. Ack. That's probably it. Insensitive Mikan! Good thing I didn't ask him about her explicitly. But I wish there's a way I can make him feel better…

"I don't know." His voice is dead too. But then he morphs into this bright eyed boy again in a blink. Is that healthy? "A lot of people have been coming to me for love advice lately. My master just told me the other day that he feels emotionally detached from his girlfriend—or rather, she from him. I told him he could wish for them to be together, but he's set on finding out what's wrong himself."

Maybe it's just me, but I think this couple talk is exhausting Koko, just slightly.

"If it's you though, I really don't know Mikan. I don't doubt that you're Mikan Sakura, but does Natsume?"

"Oh!" Yeah, forgot to mention that part. Heh… "He doesn't know."

"Then I would start by telling him." Aw! There's that beam that I know and love!

Okay. I've made up my mind. Maybe I will tell him later on! I mean, it's not like I have anything to lose is there? He's already given up on Mikan Sakura and it's not like he was into Mikan Yukihira in the first place. If Natsume wants me to stay, then I'll stay. But if he doesn't… well, I guess it's he his problem then. He has to figure it out.

I don't want this to be this pathetic one-sided thing anymore.

"Thank you Koko!"

"I'm sorry…"

Wait, what?

And the dismissal bell starts ringing. Stupid bell.


	7. Abnormality

_____Official Disclaimer: ____A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**6: Abnormality**

* * *

Accompanied by her mysterious fairy godmother…

* * *

Here is what should happen:

I confess to Natsume, he realizes he has fallen head over heels for me all along, and we go from once upon a time to happily ever after.

Here is what actually happens:

First I'm trying to find Natsume in a swarm of human beings. He's nowhere to be found. I panic. I lose sight of Ruka. I lose sight of Koko. I pretty much feel like a surfer lost at sea until teachers clear out the crowd by broadcasting some very atrocious yodeling. I'm still searching for Natsume. I still can't find him. I finally find him. He rewards me by telling me to pretend I don't exist for another two hours while he has fun with his friends in the Manga Club.

Okay.

I go off and play with dandelions or the like for two hours, except now, two hours later, I'm getting dragged by our five hundred meter barrier away from the school northbound. So I go find Natsume for the second time and I ask him what's going on and he tells me he's going shopping with his friends so I have to pretend to not exist for a while longer.

We're shopping now. Oh, my bad. _Natsume_ is shopping with his friends. I'm just pretending not to exist. What is the big deal anyways? Don't guys always complain about being dragged off to the mall by their girlfriends and girl friends and sisters and stepsisters and generally any female being?

I'm pretty sure he's ignoring me on purpose.

You know, I really wish I have a microphone right now so I can just bellow in his ear "I'M MIKAN SAKURA. MIKAN SAKURA IS ME! ME!" because it's been three hours since we've arrived at the mall and I'm so tired of playing I Spy with myself!

Hurry up Natsume… Yes! His friends are leaving! All right! Thank god it's Monday evening. Thank god grade eleven teachers assign so much homework!

And thank god Natsume comes from a rich family, so he can get chauffeured home. The faster we get there, the better! I cannot wait to tell him and see the look on his face. My heart is pounding. I'm so excited!

Dance with me carpet! Dance—whoa, no! Enough dancing! I'm falling off!

"I'll race you to your room!" Nya, nya. You can't beat me, Natsume. I can totally fly and you can't! Ah, Natsume's room! How I've missed you! Oh, his bed is so soft! I've never laid on it before. This is awesome. This is heaven. Mmm, it smells so nice!

Oh! I see a collection of dusty trophies. Whoa, look at all those certificates. He's been getting awards ever since kindergarten! Look at that! Basketball championship. Soccer championship. A medal for first place in a badminton regional competition. He's quite sportive, isn't he? Ooh, valedictorian, grade eight! Computer club executive, grade nine. He's also a special star at Alice Academy… whatever that means. Wow, look at these! And oh! Hehe. Art certificate, grade one.

I wonder what kind of child he used to be. Mini Natsume, huh? What do you think, Natsume's mommy? Are you proud of your child? You should be. I'm sure you are. I can just picture you high up above, flying in the clouds, smiling down on your son. Aww. I feel so warm and fluffy.

Ah! Lights! "What the heck are you doing?"

"N-n-nothing!" I'm just admiring how beautiful your mom looks, even in the dark.

Don't give me that weird look!

"Okay, get out of my room. I'm going to do homework and then sleep."

What? No! We have to talk, mister. This talk has been long overdue, and I don't care what you say or think. I'll see to it myself that you're not getting another step closer to this backpack!

"Move."

"Nah uh."

"What are you doing, playing jokes with me? I'm not kidding. I need to do my work. My physics teacher assigned fifty nine questions." Well maybe then you should have thought twice about going shopping with your friends! "Now hand over the backpack like a good girl."

"I'm Mikan Sakura."

"Yeah, I know. Now hand me my homework."

That's it? That's it? Seriously? Talk about anticlimactic! Heh.

Really, though. What did I expect? A hug? A kiss? Something to commemorate finding his so-called soulmate after ten years? Hah! As if! It's Natsume after all. Yeah, it's just Natsume… No matter how hard my heart pounds for him, it's not going to matter after all. I think I'm just something fun for him to torment for a few days before he gets tired of me, the jerk!

"No. You don't get it. I'm Mikan Sakura. I am Mikan Sakura. I'm the girl you're looking for."

"I know you are. I've known for a while." I'm trying hard not to wince at his harsh tone. Why does it turn out like this? When did it start to change?

"How long?"

"First day."

Seriously? The first day. So he's been basically playing me all along, pretending that he doesn't know just to get a reaction out of me. What about all these feelings he claims to have? I can't tell what's fake and what's real anymore. Which one is the real Natsume—the flirty, playful boy I first encountered or this serious person standing before me?

"Okay. Sorry, I'll leave now." I might not be the brightest genie out there, but even I can take a clue.

* * *

Last night, the sky was so clear. Last night my head was so cloudy. I didn't even get a blink of sleep. But that'll change today, I suppose. Until Natsume needs me again for his second wish, it's not like there's anything else to do.

The genie mark on my palm is still pretty dark. I don't like looking at it. It reminds me too much of his face, and whenever I see his face inside of my head I get a huge stab in the heart.

Is it lame that I wish everything's so far has been a dream?

I really think he and I got off on the wrong foot. If only we met differently, as two normal people instead of genie and master. Then maybe we'll have a shot.

… What am I even saying? It's not like he'll want to be with me just because I'm human. God Mikan, you're being hopeless again.

These hallways are so empty and lonely during lunchtime. I feel like I'm going down one of those deserted cloud highways that always inevitably leads to one of those places Granddaddy Noda's looking for. But you always find them when he's not there and once you leave, you can never get back again.

That's right. Everyone's caught up in their own lives, aren't they? Even Koko's not around… Where is he? At least if he's here then I can talk to him about—

Ack! Hand! Hand around my mouth. Who's touching me? Who's here? Ruka? Natsume? Koko? Who can see genies in this place?

"Come with me and no one gets hurt."

Holy mother of god! OKAY. Okay. This really is a rapist. Magic carpet, charge! Attack that monster and strangle him! He deserves to be punished! Yes! Yes! Just like that. Make him into a cocoon!

This is so awesome.

I feel like I'm in an episode of Sailor Moon. I can be Sailor Carpet or something! Carpet Magic Power!

Hey! No. He's sticking a hand out. Tighter, carpet! Tighter!

Huh? Bright green manicured nails?

"What is this thing? Get it off of me!" Oh. That's a female voice. Okay, carpet, that's enough.

Oh! It's that girl! It's that green haired girl who was flirting with _my_ Natsume yesterday? Aha! I know why you're attacking me! You clearly recognize me as a competitor for his affections so now you're playing dirty, aren't you? Well Sailor Mikan will show you justice!

But first, how can she even see me?

"You've grown obnoxious over the years, haven't you?"

Ow! Oh my god! Forget everything I've ever said about Natsume's grip. This girl's hand wrapped around my wrist has three times the strength of a metal clamp, and it's only increasing! Ow! Ow! My bones are going to break!

"Who are you?"

Eep! Those eyes… they're really scary, and really cat-like. She looks like someone who's going to kidnap me in the middle of the night and feed me to her kitten babies. No! Spare Mikan, oh great cat goddess! Mikan is a good girl!

"Give me your hand." You already have it!

Oh, thank god. Thank you for finally letting go. I think my skin's going to get red and bruised from all this rough grabbing from Natsume and his mysterious fangirl.

Well it looks like we're in the bathroom, which means I'm one hundred percent secluded from society and totally vulnerable to whatever she intends to do with me. Be brave Mikan! Ack, she's opening her mouth to speak now. Have mercy on me!

"You know who I am, don't you?"

Uh, no?

Moreover, what's with the weird stance? This girl is exactly like my mom, I can tell. She's oozing confidence. Or aggression. Whichever you prefer. But ah, I'm scared now. Is it possible for females to have muscles that big? Why didn't I notice them yesterday?

"Uhm…"

"Well, what am I saying? You probably don't. Humans never remember anything, except for Natsume and Ruka, of course. They're special. And cute. Don't you think so?"

"Y-y-y-yeah." I'm not entirely sure if I'm agreeing because I agree or if I'm agreeing because I'm afraid to disagree.

"Yeah, they're total cuties. You don't find specimen like that in the genie world."

"U-u-uhm, did you bring me here to talk about Natsume and Ruka?" It sure seems like it at the moment. I'm really confused. I hope it's not going to be one of those scenes that Yura tells me about where the most popular girl seeks out her rival in love and pummels her, because without my carpet, I'm at starfish level in terms of fighting ability.

Please say no. Please say no!

"No." Yes! Oddly, her eye roll reminds me of Natsume's. I wonder if he gets it from her… or maybe she gets it from him… But that means that they're very close. They're not _that_ close, are they? I swear it's just a one sided thing. Oh my god! What if he doesn't want me because he's in love with this girl? What if—what if—"Do you think I'm that bored with my life?"

Uh. Probably not.

"Well do you?" Eep!

"Noofcoursenot!"

Phew. At least she's satisfied with that response. Somewhat. I wonder if it's possible to satisfy this woman entirely. I probably shouldn't tell her about my relationship with Natsume…

"Well we can't have genies floating left and right all over the school, okay? I almost tripped over you just now. But then, it's not like you're a genie in the first place, Mi-kan Sa-ku-ra." Hey, my voice actually sounds good in that sing-song tone!

Okay, okay, never mind that. There are more important things at hand. "Wait, I'm a human right? Are you sure?"

"Well, duh. What, you think I don't know what I'm talking about?"

No ma'am! "It's just that I really don't know what's going on. Natsume told me the same thing a while ago and I thought he was joking."

"Natsume's your master?" This lady can really screech! I didn't even know it's possible to talk in that pitch. Eep! There are daggers in her eyes! There are knives and daggers and swords and arrows of every shape and size. I can see them! "Well, whatever. It's not like I care anyways. I knew your master would be someone in my Architecture class, but I wasn't sure whom. But really, Natsume… You _really_ reaped in the goods, didn't you?"

Well, okay. That really depends on how he's feeling and treating me at the moment.

"Did anything happen between the two of you?"

Uh… Uh… "Why is this relevant? Did you really drag me here to ask me about my relationship with Natsume after all?"

"Okay, okay. Sorry, sorry." Oh. Well that was easy. I expected somewhat of a fight. "I got a little off topic there. No harm in me poking a little fun at you. It's been a while Mikan." I didn't know she can make such a warm smile! "The last time I saw you, you were only seven years old."

That's a long, long time ago! "Really? I was that small? I must have had really distinguishable features when I was a baby! How did you recognize me that quickly?"

A facepalm? "No! No! Human time! Seven thousand, not seven years!"

Oh. _Oh!_ Well why didn't she say so in the first place?

"I know they casted me out of the genie world, but I didn't know what they did for you. Huh, it looks like that Narumi farthead really did manage to make you into a genie after all. I probably wasn't specific enough when I told him to keep you out of harm's way."

Wait. They casted her out of the genie world… This woman is Sumire Shouda! Whoa! Koko was right! She is so young! She looks like my age! She's even in the same year as Natsume! So she's been in this form for ten thousand years? Oh my god! That must be so tiring. I can't even imagine being sixteen thousand for three thousand years!

"Oh my god! Sumire Shouda! I've always wanted to meet you!"

Hm? What did I say to get such a snort?

"You should have came a lot sooner, Mikan. I was so tired of waiting. You can't even imagine. This entire place stinks, and the only reason I'm here is because I totally owe Imai—and cause there are cuties all over the place!"

"You and Hotaru?" I'm pretty sure Hotaru didn't mention her… But then I did storm out of that room pretty quickly so I guess it's my fault in the end.

"I'm living with your doll. Funny, isn't it? I brought her to life and she ended up saving me from homelessness."

She is so lucky! Oh what I'll give to be in Hotaru's house! That magnificent, glorious house! Oh, my heart yearns for it almost as much as it yearns for Natsume. I guess if I have a genie, those will be my two wishes.

"More importantly, I made an irrevocable promise, so here we are, Mikan. I'm Sumire Shouda, your genie from ten thousand years ago. You are the human child who almost collapsed the two genie kingdoms."

I-I-I—what? I don't want to be the human child that almost collapsed the two genie kingdoms! What is this? I can't have that much responsibility on my hands! That just means that I'm evil! But I'm a good kid! Mommy always tell me so! Daddy too! And Uncle Narumi! And Granddaddy Noda and Uncle Kazu too! I don't want to go over to the dark side!

"But we won't deal with all the technicalities right now. You probably learned most of it in class , isn't it hideous? Ooh, tell me! Are you a Genie Official? I was a Genie Official in my time, did you know? I graduated at the top of my class."

"Uhm, yeah…" Never mind that! I need to know more about what happened! I'm completely clueless and everyone's going left and right about the scandal. All that's printed in the textbooks is a brief summary of how Sumire violated the law and of how Uncle Kazu tried to execute her but it didn't work so they banished her to the human world.

"That's my girl!" Heh. It feels a little weird when a woman the same age as me starts patting my head. But I think… I'll just be quiet… I don't want to suffer her wrath. She's scary. "Okay, give me your hand now."

Yes ma'a—ouch! Well it looks like you just grabbed it regardless. Why did you even ask me in the first place? Sheesh!

Ooh! Hand massage! This feels really nice!

"Pay attention."

Okay, okay. Hmm? Oh my god! She's not kidding! That symbol on the back of my hand is clearly the pre-Golden Age lamp! And she has the same one on her palm! I feel faint. Holy! Is it possible for me to be both the genie and the master at the same time? Am I still connected with Natsume? And, flip! Why, yes I am. And flip again! But really, this is so… strange. I've never heard of one person bonded to two people at the same time. And I don't even feel funny or anything.

I'm so special!

"It's this mark that saved me from dying ten thousand yeas ago. You still have one more wish."

This is amazing! I'm speechless. She's right. The pre-Golden Age lamp is barely two shades darker than my skin. It looks like a fading tattoo.

"The deal I made with Imai was that if I ever see you, I have to show you all the events that lead up to my banishment. As much as I hate to do this, she did give me a place to stay at for eight human years, so I kind of owe her a lot."

"You want me to wish to know my past?"

"If you don't mind." Haha, she's so sly, saying that with such an off-handed tone when she really doesn't have a choice. Well, hey. I'm pretty sure my genie's done a lot for me so why don't I repay her the favour?

"Okay. I wish that you'll show me everything that happened—everything from when you were assigned to me to the moment I changed races from a human to a genie."

And she snaps.

Well, here we go. It's the first time I've ever done anything like this. Every emotion inside of me is a different colour, and right now they're all caught up in this florescent, vibrant tornado. I see the bathroom fading away into white mist. Wait, I think I see an image! Is that my home two years ago because it looks—

Huh? We're back in the bathroom.

"What just happened?" Because I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to go down like this.

Oh great. I don't think she knows either. Otherwise, she wouldn't be frowning like that right? "Someone else was pulling you, tying you to this world. I tried to pull you through but something slammed me."

Oh. That's probably the five hundred metre rule. That's weird though. It's not like I'm going out of boundaries. I'm just travelling to a different time for a while. Does it still work in the same way? Perhaps the genie-human bond is a lot stronger than I thought…

"I think it's my master. It's because he's here, and I can't leave him."

"Right! I forgot all about that. It looks like you're going to have to take him along if you want this wish to come true."

Eh? But… but… What if I don't want him to see my past? I'm pretty sure there's going to be something embarrassing there! Why do we always end up in the most awkward situations?

"It's a good thing Natsume and I have the same lunch. Okay! It's decided. Go home, go ask him for permission, and come back here tomorrow, although we probably can't meet up in the girls' washroom…"

"Wait!" Ah, this is so embarrassing. I feel like I'm thrusting my personal problems on a complete stranger. Plus, she's still really intimidating, even if she is my genie. "Uhm, uhm, Natsume and I kind of aren't talking right now."

"Oh geez! Girl, what did you do?" Now she kind of sounds like Yura… "You can't just let go of a guy like that! Quick, go snatch him back! You're not going to find such hot guys in the genie lands. And I doubt you'll be a genie for much longer anyways. Secure your guy first."

Okay, Yura's definitely not this aggressive.

"But, he's—"

"You and him."

Me and him?

"Ten thousand years ago, you and him." Oh, what a sigh. She carries the same melancholy that Koko does.

Oh no! Koko! I haven't even thought of telling her that he's here! They haven't seen each other for ten thousand years! Wow. I need to tell her! And then I need to tell him! I really need to reunite them.

"I hate to admit it, but you guys could have been really close friends if the whole thing hadn't happened. You might even be going steady at this point. It's one of the few things from ten thousand years ago that I'm truly guilty about." She looks really sincere about it too. Oh, she looks like she needs a hug! I'm scared to give her one though. I feel like she's going to set her claws on me the moment I even attempt to open my arms to her. "Anyways, go find him. Ask him to do this for you this one time, and if he doesn't agree then mug him and bring him here anyways."

Scary woman…

"Okay, I gotta go. My friends are waiting in the caf. Oh yeah, we still have to meet up. Okay, just bring him to stairwell five tomorrow, third floor."

Stairwell five? "Uhm, where is stairwell five?"

I'm shriveling. I'm shriveling under that look, that _you're-so-incompetent _look. I'm sorry!

"Okay, never mind. Bring him here, and we'll just wing it somehow. Worst comes to worst, you both fall unconscious and I'll hide your body in the janitor's closet or something!"

The janitor's closet? Don't say it in such a bright voice! That's scary! Especially if Natsume's in there with me!

"Okay, ta-ta Mikan!"

"Wait!"

"What?" Eep! It's amazing and so utterly terrifying how her voice can change from sugary to downright assertive in the blink of an eye!

"Uhm, I think you should know that Koko's here too. He's actually Ruka's genie right now…" I can't look her in the eye!

"Koko? Koko Yome Koko?"

"Y-yeah."

"Good." Her presence is so much scarier with that hostile glare! Much, much scarier than Natsume. I wonder if, somewhere out there, Koko is getting goosebumps down his back. "Then you can tell that son of a bitch to go skewer himself."


	8. Confessions

_Official Disclaimer: __A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**7: Confessions**

* * *

…they journeyed through hell and high water…

* * *

"Hey, can you come down for a while?"

Oh, so the second night he feels like talking to me, hmm? What's wrong, Natsume? Don't feel like putting up a front tonight as well? Done being Mr. Grumpy Pants to Mikan yet? Or maybe you want to make your second wish now.

Okay… Fine. I'm actually kind of relieved. Happy even. I didn't know how I was going to ask him to come with me to see Sumire tomorrow. But I guess I can edge in the subject somehow. I just hope that whatever he wants to talk about, he'll make it easy on me.

Down, carpet girl. That's a good carpet! What'll I ever do without you?

"Hey."

Oh! Ahh! No, what is this?

I really don't want to get my hopes up. His eyes are so warm, so gentle totally unlike how he was looking at me yesterday. I don't know what to do. Does he have multiple personalities? Did something change?

"Come sit."

He's inviting me… to sit on his bed with him? Dare I? I don't know… It sounds kind of dangerous. Lots of activities can happen in a bed. Uhm… Okay, fine. Here I go. Carpet, you're coming with me for moral support, and I don't care what Natsume says.

"Hi." Well this is awkward. I don't know what else to say to him.

"That guy's not really your fiancé, is he?"

My fiancé? What gu—oh! He's talking about Tsubasa. Heh. "Ugh. No. He's more of a bother."

"Oh. Good." Good? Good? He just said good, right? What does he mean by "good?" My heart is pounding! "I thought it was unlikely but I just had to make sure."

Why? What does it mean to you?

"I'm sorry for being a jerk to you yesterday. I just needed time to brood over something."

Oh! Oh, I really want to tell myself not to get my hopes up, but it's hard to do that when I feel like my heart's squirting out rainbows. I think maybe after this I'll take my carpet and do a few cartwheels outside of his house. I won't tell him, of course. No, that would just be… weird.

"It's okay."

Why didn't you tell me you knew that I'm Mikan Sakura? I really want to ask him that question, but I don't know how to bring it up. And I don't want to ruin this really nice mood between us. Ahh, ahh! What to do, what to do?

"I didn't mean to say that either, that I'm giving up on finding Mikan Sakura. I just wanted to see if I was right or not."

So we went through all that trouble for that, when he could have asked me? Oh, sheesh. I would have given him an answer straight out and we could have been on cloud nine by this point. All my life, Tsubasa keeps complaining to me about girls playing all these games. Hah. Well I guess he's wrong because Natsume clearly does it too.

"Why didn't you just ask me instead of trying to secretly sneak out an answer?"

That is totally the wrong question to ask him. I can just see the rainbows disappear one by one right in front of my eyes!

"Well why didn't you just tell me in the first place? You _knew_ who I was searching for but you still kept it a secret from me. I feel like I had to scale down five mountains before even coming close to the truth. And it was only—it was only when you saw that picture that I…"

Ack! I don't know why I'm suddenly so teary now, but I just can't stand it when he yells at me like that. It hurts. It really does. And it's scary. Not like the Sumire scary but a different kind of scary. Sumire makes me fear for my body, but he makes me fear for my heart. And it's just so much more painful.

I don't want him to be mad at me like that, to yell at me like that. I'm sorry. I don't know why I did it. But I'll never do it again. I promise, so please don't yell at me.

"Hey, stop. I didn't mean it like that."

Oh, tissue. Thank you. I don't want you to worry, Natsume. Don't make that face. I don't know what came over me. Here, look, smile! I'm all better now.

"She doesn't want you to feel bad either."

Who? Oh, that picture! That beautiful, beautiful picture. I can't take my eyes off of it every single time. She's such a gorgeous woman, just as beautiful as Madonna, or even Mona Lisa. What? Oh, he's letting me hold it. Are you sure, this is okay, Natsume? Are you sure?

Oh, stray tear. Thanks.

…your fingers are so warm. No don't leave! Touch me again!

"I don't have many memories of my mom. She passed away in a car crash a long time ago. But I love her with all my heart. I loved her enough to bring her picture with me to Bring Your Parents to School Day." He really was endearing as a child… "I don't remember a lot that happened that day. People gave me weird looks because I wouldn't let go of that. Not just parents, but teachers too. Then, the small girl sitting next to me tells me 'she's beautiful' and makes my day a lot brighter."

Aww, that's such a cute story! "And that little girl was?"

Ow! My forehead. "Who do you think it was?"

Me?

"Really? Is that why you wrote those two letters to me and told me we were going to get married and make lots and lots of babies?" Ehehe! I can't stop giggling every time I think of it, but just imagining a little Natsume writing that is so cute and funny!

"You want to know the ending to that letter?"

"Yes!" Please!

"Well too bad. I don't remember."

Then why ask? Geesh, I wish we kept those letters instead of putting them back that day.

"But it was something along the lines of 'cheer up!'" Cheer up? Why? "You looked really out of it when you were a kid, like you would slip away any moment. You had it worse than me."

I…did? Does that have anything to do with the Sumire scandal and her bringing me to the human world? I don't know. I'm a little nervous now about going back and seeing my past, not that I wasn't before, but then what if there's a reason I don't have those memories? What if it's because I don't want them…?

"It felt like you were slipping away again today, for a while at lunch. It scared me for a moment."

Oh, he felt it too? Am I the only one who's not feeling anything? Sumire said she was playing tug of war with another force for a while before the force won out. For Natsume to be able to win against an experienced genie… wow. He was more than a little scared…

…is what I want to say but I probably shan't make any more assumptions.

I think I need to explain to him what happened. "Oh, that. Well, you see, I kind of met my very own genie." Yup, this mark on the back of my hand is not going to go away any time soon.

"You met Shouda already?"

"Yep!"

Hold up, hold up, hold up! Since when does Natsume know about Sumire? How much does he know, in the first place?

"Oh, I was just going to tell you about her." Already one step ahead of you, darling! "Stepsister mentioned her that day we went to visit."

"Really? What did she say?" What did the gorgeous princess say?

More importantly, when am I going to see her again?

"'Shouda is the answer to everything.' Don't ask me what it means. I don't know either."

Can this be about their promise? The one that Sumire made? So then the answer is everything that happened ten thousand years ago? The answer to what, in the first place? I'm so confused!

I'm having an internal debate over whether or not I'm going to listen to the words of a doll. I think I may be losing it.

"Uhm, actually, I have something to ask you."

"What?" Oh, those eyes! Those lips! Can I kiss you? Oh, no, er, I mean, "Can you come with me to see my past and everything that happened to me as a child? I can't go alone. And I'm…" well here goes nothing! "I'm a little nervous about it all."

Oh that adorable raised eyebrow! "Really? It's okay with you?"

Yes! Yes! It's more than okay! I need you to stop Sumire from putting my body inside a janitor's closet! Oh, and "I want you to come."

That is one adorable smile.

Okay, I don't care anymore. I'm hugging you Natsume. And if you don't want that… well, feel free to try to fight me off. Try. Hehe. I'm not letting go that easily.

Mmm, he smells really, really nice. I wonder if he tastes just as nice.

I wonder if it's okay for me to kiss him now, actually. All the secrets are already out between us, and he's hugging me back after all. Hehe.

"Natsume?"

"Hm?"

"Are you gonna kiss me now?"

"The better question is: are _you_ going to kiss _me_?"

"Can I?"

"You tell me."

He's playing games again! Oh sheesh! "Don't be mean. Just kiss me."

"Fine."

Oh my god! He's really doing it! He's coming closer, and closer. Well, I guess if we kiss, he needs to come closer, but ack! I'm so nervous! I can't look. Are we supposed to close our eyes when we kiss? Do we keep them open? Am I going to be absolutely awkward? Oh god, I'm going to be an awkward turtle, aren't I? I don't even know how to kiss. I've only ever kissed mommy and daddy. Uhm… Uhm…

And it's over already? But that was just a peck! And it was barely on my lips! It was like at the very corner!

"That's it for now. G'night Mikan."

Good…Night…

Aww! I thought we were actually going to kiss, like actually lock lips and all! He totally knew what I wanted too! Geesh, what a tease!

* * *

"I sense sexual tension between you two. Did you cheat on me again, Natsume?"

And good afternoon to you too Sumire! Isn't it a lovely day? You don't get such lovely days often. Everything is just perfect. It's not too hot and it's not too cold. It's bright and sunshiny and all the birds are out and about. And the students aren't even as annoying as they are usually!

And Natsume's beside me.

And he totally loves me.

And I totally love him.

Everything's just so right, you know?

"Okay, stop stripping each other in your minds and follow me."

Away we go on a journey! Just me and my lover Natsume! Oh, and Sumire too but she's more like the designated driver. And we go down the mountain of peril! I mean, I mean, the stairs. Through the magical gate! And we're in the land of utopia! Really, why aren't there more children outside on such a nice day?

Hey! That's cool! I never noticed these trees and this spot before. It's like no one can see us here. Hehe. We're spies.

"This is going to knock you out for a while so be prepared to have creepy crawlies all over your bodies when you wake up."

Ahh! Creepy crawlies! "I understand why Natsume has to be here, but why do I have to be? It's not like anyone's going to see me!" No creepy crawlies are going anywhere near my body!

"Just kidding, Mikan. I'll look after you, don't worry. If it makes you feel better, you can lie on your carpet." Oh you cheeky genie, you!

"Or you can lie on top of me."

Uhm… Uhm…

Eep! I think I'll choose my magic carpet this time. I mean, I mean, it's not that I don't want to but Sumire's eye roll is kind of scaring the daylights out of me!

"Cheeky, aren't you, Natsume? I hope you're not doing anything R-rated with her… yet."

"Okay! Can we get going now?" Pretty please and thank you? Before Mikan drowns in embarrassment?

Finally, it looks like we're getting somewhere. And, oh, the white mist is back. Natsume, where's your hand? Oh, there it is. You don't mind if I hold it, do you? I'm kind of nervous about this whole thing.

Aw! Thank you for the reassuring squeeze!

It kind of feels like last time, but not really. I don't know how to explain it. It's a little more, more… drowsy. I feel sleepy, like it's clouding my senses… and my… my… Natsume? He's gone, isn't he? His hand just went limp in my hand… and I think… I think I'm… too… Here I go…

* * *

Okay, first of all, thank you to the people who voted on my poll. Since you guys want the chapters as they're being written, I shall post up all the written chapters of Three Wishes over the next few days.

Secondly, if any of you are wondering how Mikan lied to Natsume that Tsubasa is her fiancé, she really didn't. It's not really lying. She was just quoting the magazine in Chapter One in the spur of the moment.

Her childishness will eventually be addressed.

Please fave, alert, review, and enjoy the story!

-IndigoGrapefruit


	9. Cruelty

A/N: Before we begin, I want to apologize for the sudden change in style, as well as the temporary switch from first to third person for the next three chapters. It had to be done in order to get the point across. You have no idea how hard it is to deliver Three Wishes in first person present participle id style. I do admit, though, chapters one to seven quite suit Mikan in terms of how she's portrayed in Gakuen Alice.

Please review, alert, fave, and enjoy the story. :)

One last thing: _always_ cherish your children.

* * *

_Official Disclaimer: __A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**8: Cruelty**

* * *

…in an epic quest to save many damsels from distress.

* * *

_Somewhere, sometime, chubby six-year-old legs brought a small girl down a street full of muddled puddles into a dirty apartment. Her long, straw-like hair flew all over the place, licked by the harsh wind. A strange man sent her a predatory glance but, merrily oblivious, the girl simply drew out a key and opened the door to a shabby apartment._

_"I'm home, mommy!"_

_No answer. Only the red purse hanging in the foyer told her that her mother was indeed in the house. It was the most expensive thing they had in that place, and Luna would never go anywhere without it. _

_Her father's shoes, though, weren't on the floor. He was working overtime, as usual. _

_She wasn't glum about it for long though. Today, she was handed out her report card and finally, _finally_, she had done the impossible. She had gotten straight As. _

_"Mommy! Mommy!" She dashed upstairs at the speed of sound. "Mommy! Mommy! Look! Straight As!"_

_At first, all that was visible was a lump of blankets, and then, slowly, a zombified arm shot up and swatted at the air. The little girl knew it wasn't intentional, but her mother had ripped her report card straight down the middle with one powerful swing. The row of As tore right in front of her eyes. _

_"Get out of my room!" The voice stung hard, and Mikan ran for her life. _

_Quickly, she took refuge in her room, for she knew that was the one place her mother would never try to barge in. With a lump in her throat, she carefully pieced the two halves of paper back together and tried to tape them together with one piece. They'd only recently been able to afford a tape dispenser, and her father would flip out if he knew that it was in her room. _

_He might take away her favourite toy, the only toy she had. _

_It was a little doll that she almost always kept tucked away in the snuggest corner of her beside table. A long time ago, the doll's hair was long and silky but when her father bought shiny new scissors for the first time, Mikan thought she would try to give it a haircut. Only, her efforts were amateur and by the time she managed to get it looking decent, it had turned into a boy cut. _

_Still, she was Mikan's best friend._

_The little girl hugged the doll. Hotaru was small and cold against her skin, but she provided the comfort Mikan could not find in her family. "Today, I got straight As on my report card for the first time! And I learned a new word! And Ruka-pyon told me that I'm really smart! And I saw this huge house on the way home! It was huge! Huge!"_

_Then, as if to demonstrate, Mikan made a big circle with her arms. But she had forgotten that she was still holding Hotaru in her hands, and the doll, lifeless, fell to a limp tangle of plastic limbs on the ground. _

_"Oh Hotaru, I'm so sorry!" the girl exclaimed, immediately scooping up the doll and engulfing it with her chubby arms. "Let's read your favourite story, Cinderella!"_

_While the doll sat on Mikan's lap, the six-year-old pulled out a storybook from a wobbly shelf and opened it. Hotaru listened intently as she always did. _

_Halfway through the story, noises started appearing from the outside. It was her mother, getting up and preparing to go to work. Her mother always worked at night and her father in the daytime. She came home in the early hours of the morning and he left for work at daybreak while she was still asleep. In an entire week, they barely saw each other for an hour at a time. _

_"Hotaru, is it normal that mommy and daddy don't sleep in the same room anymore?"_

_The doll only stared back at her with blank eyes. _

* * *

_Maybe it was the little things in the beginning this small girl sensed, like how the marriage pictures went down. It soon became clearer and clearer. Her mother started taking transit. She never used her father's bike anymore, and the one time she did, a huge fight erupted between them in the early morning hours._

_Mikan clutched her doll tightly, afraid to interfere. She couldn't sleep tonight. Outside, a storm was brewing. The wind hurled huge branches around in a scary dance. One of the branches kept tapping on her window, and she felt like if she fell asleep, a murderer would barge in and slice her to pieces. _

_Silently, the girl clutched Hotaru and cried. _

_Bring Your Parent to School Day was in a week, but she couldn't ask her parents to go. She just couldn't. She didn't want to be yelled at again by her mother, or hear the curt rejections of her father. They just didn't have enough time. They were stressed out. They were trying to pay the bills entirely this month. _

_The night and its companions slowly ate her away.  
_

* * *

_Her father had a boss that was coming over that evening for tea. Her mother was sleeping, and the house was a mess from Luna's scramble to get to work last night. The little girl looked around, sure that if she didn't make her home look nicer, her father would yell at her mother again._

_She didn't want that. _

_Her mother never bought a feather duster, so Mikan made do with a wet napkin. Armed with the napkin and a footstool, she carefully wiped all the dust off of shelves, photo frames, and pieces of furniture that had been neglected for months on end. _

_The little girl paused when she saw a gleaming, golden lamp. She didn't remember her parents purchasing that. They never had anything gold in that house. If they did, her dad would have sold it in a pawn shop already just to purchase the absolute basic necessities of life. Carefully, she set aside her napkin and touched it with both hands. The lamp didn't need any dusting over; it was so shiny she could see her reflection in it. _

_Mikan held the thing of wonder delicately. For a second, she pictured herself as a princess that held many, many riches and had thousands of lamps all over her palace. _

_The ticking of the clock gave her a huge wake up call, and she quickly remembered that she had to finish dusting. _

_She got back on the footstool, ready to place the lamp back in its place, but the moment she let go of it, she realized that she had blemished the perfect golden surface with her fingerprint. Panicked, the little girl quickly rubbed it off. _

_Instead of cleaning, the lamp spurted out a huge cloud of smoke. _

_The little girl, falling off her footstool, immediately started crying. She just _knew_ she had broken something precious. Now both her father and her mother would be furious at her. They would lock her up in her room and forbid her from going to school again. _

_"My god, can't that stupid ass teacher give me a lamp that doesn't smoke this much for once? Okay, okay. You are my master. You have three wishes. Please name them quickly so I can like get back to my boyfriend. Thank you!"_

_She stared up at the stranger curiously, both intimidated and amazed by her presence. _

_"Hm? You're just a kid!"_

_The girl speaking to Mikan wore such extravagant clothes! They were clothes Mikan once saw downtown, while a screen was displaying a fashion runway. She reached out instinctively, wanting to touch them._

_"Hey! Stop it! Don't touch me!"_

_"Who are you?" Mikan uttered the three words with wonderment. _

_The girl seemed much more interested in her tiger print nails all of a sudden. "I'm Sumire Shouda, you know, your genie."_

_"My genie? You mean like Aladdin's genie?"_

_"Yeah, kind of like that, but who's Aladdin?"_

_Mikan gasped, amazed that the girl did not know Aladdin._ Everyone_ in her class knew who Aladdin was!_

_"Anyways, you have three wishes before you forget me forever, so can we like hurry it up?"_

_"What can I wish for?"_

_"Anything."_

_The girl's eyes grew wide. "Anything?"_

_"Well I just said that, didn't I?" She sounded very grumpy. _

_"Can I wish for a friend?"_

_"Yeah, sure. Your wish is_—"

_"Wait!"_

_"Oh my god what?"_

_"Um, I don't just want any friend. I want my doll Hotaru to be my best friend, and come to school with me and play at recess with me and walk home with me every day, but I know my parents won't like that…" said Mikan, staring at her feet in embarrassment. It was the first time she had ever allowed herself to voice out loud what she wanted from the bottom of her heart._

_When she was either with her mother or father, they always shopped for necessities. She was never allowed to ask for any toy, because they would always scoff that they didn't have money and make an embarrassing public spectacle. She learned to keep it in, to just stare longingly at the rows of dolls down Walmart and the pretty princess costumes on display at the Disney Store. _

_"Okay, okay, your wish is granted," assured Sumire in a catty tone, snapping her fingers as she did so._

_Like a cheetah, Mikan dashed up the steps and stormed into her room. Where there was formerly a doll, there now laid a girl in a blue dress, staring blankly at the ceiling. As the door creaked open, Hotaru turned and fixed her vibrant, violet eyes on Mikan. _

* * *

_The three of them walked hand in hand merrily towards Mikan's school. Today was Bring Your Parents to School Day, and Luna was sleeping soundly at home. But Mikan didn't care. She had her three favourite people in the world right by her side. _

_A ton of kids laughed, running ahead along with their friends as their mothers and fathers strolled a safe distance behind them. Her classmates didn't want to be called babies, so they had to fight off their parents' affections. _

_Only one child, a dark-haired boy stayed by his father's side while clutching a picture frame tightly in between his fingers. Mikan immediately recognized him as her red eyed classmate. She tried peering over to see what the frame was, but he held it so close to his heart that she couldn't get a glimpse. _

_"What are you looking at?" asked Sumire, floating leisurely on her magic carpet._

_"N-nothing."_

_The teacher called the students up one by one to introduce their parents from reverse alphabetical order. Mikan knew that she would be right after Anna Umenomiya because she always preceded Anna in the normal attendance. When Wakako Usami was called up, she quickly made an excuse in her head that Mr. Makihara and her other classmates wouldn't question._

_"Mikan Sakura," Mr. Makihara called, "will you introduce us to your parents?"_

_"Um," she wobbled to her knees and said with a blush, "I'm sorry Mr. Makihara. Daddy and mommy couldn't make it because they're at work."_

_"Oh. That's too bad." Mr. Makihara only gave her a slightly disappointed frown as he continued on calling names. _

_Mikan sat back down next to Hotaru, relieved. _

_"Why didn't you tell them the truth?" snapped Sumire from the air. _

_The six-year-old felt very small in the face of the truth. The truth was that her father couldn't take a day off from work and he would send her to her room if she even suggested such a preposterous idea. The truth was that her mother was at home right now but she refused to subject herself to such menial tasks. The truth was that her family members all lived their separate lives. They expected her to be able to take care of herself. And Mikan didn't want to disappoint them._

_"Natsume Hyuuga, come tell us about your mother and father."_

_The boy beside Mikan rose to his feet and, gripping his father's finger, dragged the man to the front of the class. Finally, he showed the class that mysterious photo frame he had been clutching at his heart for the entire time. Mikan was awestruck._

_"This is dad. He's an artist, and he paints lots of colourful drawings with my favourite colour red. This is mom," he told them, clutching the frame tightly and trying hard to maintain his poker face, "and she died two years ago."_

_"Thank you, Natsume." Mr. Makihara's voice was very gentle._

_The entire class remained silent as he returned to his seat, burrowing his face in his arms. Usually, if one parent couldn't make it, the children would just introduce the other and sit down. Never did any kid announce to the entire classroom that one of their parents died. _

_Mikan took the chance to stare at the picture a little bit more. She had never seen such a beautiful woman. Natsume's mother looked like royalty. Her sleek, ebony locks, piercing red eyes and gentle smile were more than worthy of worship. Mikan wanted to hold the picture for a while, but she was afraid to ask._

_"Um," she said, but the boy didn't budge. So she tried again with "excuse me!" because Sumire told her it was always polite to say that before interrupting something._

_But he still didn't show any signs of life, so she reached over and poked him in the shoulder._

_"Mikan," Hotaru admonished in a whisper from behind her. "Poking is rude."_

_"I'm sorry!" she said to no one in particular, before noticing that the boy had raised his head and was now looking at her. Suddenly, she felt small and shy under his scrutiny. "Hi! I'm Mikan Sakura, and I think your mommy is beautiful."_

_He didn't say anything back so she looked away, blushing. Life felt different recently, being able to express what she truly thought and felt. It was as if the sun shined brighter. The silly girl couldn't help but break out into a beam as she inwardly congratulated herself for voicing the compliment._

* * *

_"What are you humming?" Sumire asked one day when Mikan was cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. She was always interested in these intriguing trends that passed throughout the human world. _

_"It's called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!" the child exclaimed brightly. "It's about a star that twinkles!"_

_An eyebrow was quirked before the genie decided not to ask. She floated a little close to Mikan. "Are you sure you don't want me to clean that out for you? I could do it much quicker, you know?"_

_"No, it's okay! Only I know how mommy likes to put her-her-her…"_

_"Spices?"_

_"Yeah! That!"_

_The little girl continued humming as she moved the paper towel up and down the dirty cabinets, wiping away any oil or spilled condiments. She wiped the sweat off of her head proudly as she finished the third shelf and climbed up onto the counter to reach for the fourth. _

_"Are you sure you're okay there? You can stand on my magic carpet if you want."_

_But Mikan was afraid that her carpet would wobble, so she told her genie, "I'm fine! Thanks."_

_"Can I do anything for you?"_

_"Another wet paper please!"_

_While Sumire did that, there was a familiar sound of the door opening. Mikan hummed on, ignoring it; her parents wouldn't be mad at her for cleaning the kitchen unless they were about to cook, and they'd already had dinner. _

_The little girl put her focus back on the task, which was to fetch the bag of salt from the very far back corner of the top shelf. The salt shaker was almost empty and her mother would probably throw a fit if she discovered that. She managed to grip the bag with her two hands, but the hard part was bringing it down without spilling it. _

_Then, the voices began. _

_First, it was her father. "Honey, do you remember where I put those files?"_

_As usual, her mother had a snarky reply, "how would I know? It's not like you ever show me your files!" Mikan remembered that her father's company had a tight secrecy policy and recalled an incident where she tried to peek once before getting viciously reprimanded and grounded._

_"Be careful!" called Sumire._

_"No, I got it!" Mikan told her, squeezing the bag of salt past a huge sack of chili pepper. _

_She proudly set down the bag of salt on the kitchen counter before disaster struck. The sack of chili pepper tipped over the edge and spilled all over the little girl, knocking her off of her feet. If Sumire had not swooped in that moment with her carpet, there was no telling whether Mikan would have cracked her skull or not. But either way, damage was done._

_The world was pungent. Her eyes burned with vengeance. She couldn't stop sneezing. She couldn't breathe through her nose at all because of the powder suspended in the air. And when she tried to breathe with her mouth, it only got worse. The powder was stuck in her throat and now her throat burned as well. It was painful beyond words. She thought she would go blind._

_The father hurriedly walked to the kitchen, calling sharply, "Mikan, have you touched my files?"_

_She couldn't answer. His voice never even got past her ears. The little girl's brain was much too preoccupied with other matters to conjure a response to his question._

_Kuonji shook his head at his daughter's uselessness and proceeded on, deciding that it was fairly unlikely she touched anything of his anyways. His daughter was a meddling squirt, there was no denying that, but she was also fairly obedient unlike that wench of a wife. _

_Horrified. _

_It was the only word that could describe what Sumire was feeling as the father walked straight past his daughter right out the door. The mother, by the looks of it, was also upstairs. Did no one in his household even _care_ that their daughter could become blind from that? She knew that Mikan's situation was bad, that her parents were abnormally negligent of their daughter, but she didn't expect the abuse to be this heinous. _

_"There there," the genie said, clutching the little girl's skull close to her bosom as if they were flesh and blood sisters. "Let me clean your face."_

_Ten wet napkins later, Mikan still couldn't open her eyes. She was afraid that pepper had caught on her eyelashes and the moment she moved her eyelids, it would enter into her eyes again. Through repetitive coaxing, Sumire managed the girl to open one eye but not the other. _

_Mikan saw the world through a coat tears. _

_"Hey," said the voice of a gentle older sister, "if you open this other eye, I promise to take you someplace special."_

_"Special?" Her voice was very much dead. "I have to clean up my mess."_

_"You don't have to do anything."_

_"No," she was firm. "I made a mess. Mommy's gonna be so mad tomorrow. And I wasted all of our chili powder. Daddy saved up so much money for it. I'm such a bad girl, Sumire! I'm such a bad girl! I don't want mommy to hate me. I don't want daddy to hate me!"_

_A fresh wave of tears came and the girl burrowed her face in Sumire's shoulder for the entire night as the genie not only cleaned the mess, but also magically reversed time until all the pepper powder was back in the thatched bag. Placing Mikan to her feat, Sumire put an end to the calamity by quietly shutting the cabinet door. _

_"There, see?" she said to the girl. "Everything's fine. You're not a bad girl."_

_Mikan cried again. The only difference was that this time the tears were out of joy that she couldn't contain. She ran over and hugged Sumire's leg tightly, refusing to let go for the life of god. Just like that, the little girl almost fell asleep standing up, except the older genie teleported them to her bedroom where Hotaru was already snoozing away._

_It was then that Sumire realized the girl had never had a single day of fun in her entire life. In fact, she considered the possibility that Mikan didn't even know what having fun was. She recalled her own days, where she raced carpets with her friends and played freeze tag and surfed clouds. It was too cruel for this girl to crow up without the pleasures of childhood, the genie decided. _

_She was going to have to isolate Mikan from this place, isolate her from this world and from these thoughts. She was going to bring out the kid in her once more. _

_"Tomorrow," she told the girl as she tucked her in, "we're going to go on a great adventure."_

_"Tomorrow?" Mikan's voice was small. "But I have school tomorrow!"_

_"Oh, it's going to be much more fun than school, I promise!"_

_"But won't I get in trouble for not going? Mr. Makihara said that bad children will be put in the time out corner!"_

_Sumire contemplated telling the truth before deciding against it. "No, not this time. Don't worry! Think if it as a field trip!"_

_"I love field trips!" exclaimed Mikan._

_The genie smiled, knowing that the child will go to sleep with pleasant dreams and anticipations._


	10. Surrender

_Official Disclaimer: __A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**9: Surrender**

* * *

One day, there was a huge storm…

* * *

_"Are you sure I'm allowed to do that?" asked Mikan when Sumire told her to wish to go to the cloud playground in the Snapping Genie World._

_"Well obviously," the genie lied straight faced, "otherwise I wouldn't tell you to do so, would I?"_

_"Um, okay…" The little girl resigned. "I wish to go to the cloud playground in Snapping Genie World!"_

_Sumire then snapped her fingers, which Mikan always found amusing. In a whirl, Mikan's room disappeared, replaced by this new world that she didn't know what to make of. _

_Everything was made of clouds! She thought that such a city only existed in imagination, but clearly it was not so. The only things that appeared solid anywhere were the lamps, and there were hundreds upon hundreds of them, all lined up in rows like houses. Some lamps had smoke rising from the sprout, some were lit up, and some were dark as if there were no inhabitants at all. _

_"Mikan?"_

_"Yes?" The child's response was absentminded; she was much too caught up in the rapture of amazement that took to her brain. _

_"Just one little thing. Whatever I tell any of the genies, you have to play along. Some genies don't like the thought of having a human child in their land so we best play it safe for a while." She sealed the deal shut with a wink and she could tell that the child was compliant. "Now off you go to play at your heart's content!"_

_Only then did Mikan realize the huge park behind her. It wasn't just like the small playhouse with monkey bars at her school. This was a full out amusement park scale of a playground for kids. Immediately, the child ran off screaming towards it, catching the attention of other children that already settled down in the place. _

_Unlike at school, they welcomed her with open arms, inviting her to try out all sorts of games and rides. _

_Sumire smiled satisfactorily to herself, feeling thankful for the first time that little genies had yet to develop full magical abilities so it wasn't unusual for a genie the equivalent of Mikan's age not to have any powers. Mikan would blend in just fine with these wee genies that were still too young to memorize all the family surnames. _

_Mikan was getting along very well with a blue eyed, spiky haired boy. They had gone down the cloud slide several times together and at first Mikan was nervous about stepping on anything made of clouds but she soon found it to be very steady despite its appearance. _

_"That was really fun!" he exclaimed on their fifth ride. "My name is Tsubasa! What's yours?"_

_"I'm Mikan!"_

_Suddenly, a sleek haired teenager whizzed past them on a magic carpet, making the little girl go all starry eyed with wonder. Tsubasa saw this, and he immediately grabbed Mikan's hand and made a run towards the Magic Carpet Rides._

_"Where are we going?" queried Mikan curiously._

_"On that!" he said, pointing to the contraption Akira Tonouchi had just shot out of. "Unless you're scared."_

_"I'm not scared!" she protested, taking a step forward. In actuality, Mikan was more than a little nervous at the thought of riding a magic carpet. She was almost terrified. Sumire made it look so easy, but whenever she was on it, the carpet wiggled and wobbled as if it had the sole intention of throwing her off._

_"I dare you to ride it," Tsubasa said, smugly crossing his arms._

_"Fine!"_

_She took a brave step forward, and seated herself on a carpet amongst several other, older genies. They seemed to find some kind of amusement with seeing such a young kid like her picking this particular ride._

_"And launch!" a voice boomed._

_All of a sudden, every single carpet shot forward. Mikan spun, she twisted and she looped. It was as if the carpet had a mind of its own. The little girl was absolutely petrified for the entire ride. The carpet didn't seem to like her very much because it dumped her on the hard cloud floor at the edge of Cloud Park before flying back. _

_Mikan found a few tears of shock steaming out from her eyes. Quickly, she wiped them away with the back of her hand. _

_"Are you okay?" a gentle voice asked._

_The child looked up and saw a blond man with very pretty purple eyes. She nodded twice to ascertain her well-being and he smiled, passing a red-lined handkerchief to her. _

_She took it in her hands, completely dumbfounded at the piece of fabric. Her family had never been rich enough to afford such a pretty hanky. Whenever she cried at home, she was expected to clean her face using hands, paper napkins or water. He was asking the impossible, handing her this treasure to wipe her snot on._

_Narumi, puzzled by this hesitance, took the hanky himself and wiped her tears for her, only to have her cry even more as he did. He stood there, helpless, wondering what he had done wrong._

_"Where are your parents?" he finally asked, deciding to play safe for a while._

_"I'm here with a friend," she sniffled. _

_"A friend," he repeated. "Hmm, perhaps we can find the said friend. What is your friend's name?"_

_"S-Sumire Shouda."_

_"Ah! What a coincidence! Sumire Shouda is a former pupil of mine!"_

_"W-what's a pupil?"_

_"Why, a pupil is a student of course!" Narumi was glad that the little girl's mood was improving through their conversation._

_"You were her teacher?"_

_"Yes I was!" he said. "Ah, there she is, coming now."_

_Sure enough, when Mikan looked up, she saw her genie zipping towards them on her usual carpet. A smile broke out on Mikan's face as soon as Sumire hopped down to joined them, immediately making Narumi wonder what kind of relationship the two have between them. He would be moderately insulted if Sumire Shouda of all people ended up dealing with children better than he could._

_"Sumire!" he greeted her jovially. _

_She was startled. "Oh, Mr. Narumi, I didn't expect to see you here."_

_"You never expect to see me anywhere," the man chuckled. "I bet you're still in that stage where you think all teachers sleep and spend our nights at Genie Academy instead of our own lamps."_

_"Har har, you're so funny Mr. Narumi." It was his quirky student all right. "Okay, excuse us. Mikan and I have to go now."_

_"Mikan, huh?" the genie remarked to himself as he saw the two girls walk hand in hand back to the amusement park. "Let her forever be known as the girl who got Sumire Shouda off her magic carpet. Come to think of it, even I couldn't do that…"_

* * *

_"Hey, hey, when are we going to Cloud Park again?" the energized seven year old bounced all over the room as she said that._

_"Hmm?"_

_Mikan paused and examined her genie closely. It wasn't like Sumire to be so out of it all of a sudden. The genie didn't even notice her master in her daydream. She was much too busy thinking of her beloved other half whom she hadn't even caught sight of for five hundred years._

_"Hey, Mikan," she said suddenly. "You still have one more wish. Have you ever thought of what you could wish for?"_

_The little girl blinked. "Um, not really. I'm really happy now because I can play with you and Hotaru and we can go to Cloud Park together whenever we want!"_

_Sumire looked uneasily out the window. Luck was clearly on their side. For five hundred years, no one had even noticed that the little girl who dropped by Cloud Park once in a while was seen nowhere else. And even luckier, no one had noticed the very light lamp mark on the back of her hand. Now that it was winter, she could cover the mark with gloves but nonetheless this business was still risky._

_And she was afraid of what would happen once she left Mikan. No doubt the little girl would still make trips to the genie world, but the question was will she actually conceal the fact that she was a human while she did so? _

_Sumire concluded that the only way this could work out was if she stayed at Mikan's side… but that would mean that Sumire couldn't leave the girl. Ever. Which would also mean that she would never see Koko, ever. She would only be able to watch on the sidelines while he aged and became an old genie. It was a cruel fate to have._

_She couldn't imagine living her life with anyone but him at her side._

_Sighing, the twenty one thousand year old genie mulled over the subject a little more._

* * *

_"Park patrol?" _

_Tsubasa nodded very seriously._

_Mikan raised a finger in her chin. "What's that?"_

_"You don't know about Cloud Park Patrol?" Tsubasa's eyes were bulging. "But didn't your parents tell you about it?"_

_It was right then that he knew he had ventured into dangerous territory. Even though he had known Mikan for a little more than five hundred years, not once had she ever mentioned anything about her parents. Plus, whenever he tried to bring it up, she would change the subject. He was starting to find it a little weird. _

_"Uhm, no?"_

_He decided to stop right then and there, fearing that if he went any further she would never speak to him again. "Well, sometimes genie officials would come to the park and hold cloud safety checkups. If the clouds are unstable, they might shut the park down."_

_Mikan's eyes grew fearful. "Shut it down?"_

_She couldn't imagine a world without Cloud Park. She would have to be confined to human life, have to return to living her sordid life, pretending that mommy and daddy were all right when in fact their fights had only gotten worse._

_Tsubasa, seeing this, quickly added, "but they never find anything wrong! Everything's just for safety!"_

_"Oh." Well when he put it that way…_

_"Anyways, we should stay out of their way. My mom tells me that a really, really mean guy just became the head security guard, and he got rid of all the good guards and made them into really mean ones. There's this guy who had a head wrapped in these white stripey thingies and he looks like a mummy!"_

_Mikan found herself biting her nails anxiously._

_"What are you scared?" Tsubasa had a cheeky grin on his face._

_"N-no!" She would never let him get the best of her. "I just… I never saw a mummy before, that's all!"_

_Suddenly, Tsubasa took her by the hand and pulled her behind a pillar. Slowly, he peered over slightly before scurrying behind the pillar once more. Mikan suddenly wished more than ever that Sumire was at her side. _

_"What is it?" she inquired fearfully._

_"Shh! It's him?"_

_By the sound of Tsubasa's voice, _him_ wasn't good news at all. _

_"Don't make a sound," he heeded quietly. _

_"Who's him?" Mikan whispered back._

_"He is the meanest of the meanest of the meanest guards!" the little boy told her with a finger up. "He's only has his job because he's best friend of the head security guard. He's the one wrapped in bandages and he's really, really bad. My mommy told me that he has this huge blade that he uses to chop off genies' heads!"_

_Mikan whimpered._

_"But don't worry. He only chops off bad genies' heads," Tsubasa said brightly. "You're never supposed to look him in the eye when you pass him. He _hates_ children."_

_"Why?"_

_He shrugged. "Because some of us don't have magic, I guess. I've got magic so I'm okay but I don't know about you."_

_Mikan was scared out of her wits and trembling in her skin by this point. If only she hadn't made the mistake of thinking that she would be okay without Sumire. She wondered if her genie would come to her rescue if she ran for it. Sumire told Mikan that she would be with her boyfriend, a cheerful blond genie but which one of the lamps was her boyfriend's lamp?_

_Tsubasa was tugging at her hand again. _

_"C'mon, let's go!"_

_Her heart leapt very audibly. "What?"_

_"We're going to pass him when he's not working." There was a mischievous grin on his face._

_"What?" Mikan repeated numbly. There was no way she was going to pass such a scary man._

_"If we're fast enough, he won't notice us," assured Tsubasa._

_"But_—"

_They were off. Tsubasa, despite his pointed, floppy genie shoes, ran as if he floated on water. Mikan's feet, on the other hand, suddenly felt like they dragged along two iron balls. Even though they were connected by their hands, at times Mikan felt the difference of speed almost tearing her arms apart. _

_"Slow down!" she cried, panting. _

_She made the mistake of looking up, up right into the bulging eyes of the man whose head was wrapped around in bandages. His raggedy huge cloak whipped around him, as if yearning for his presence. For that second, his stare was so deep and so penetrating that Mikan froze right on the spot._

_"Don't look, just run!" Tsubasa's remote voice was somewhere in the background._

_In a swift swoop, he grabbed Mikan's arm with the hand that was not holding a scythe and disconnected her from Tsubasa. A small yelp escaped Mikan's lips as she was lifted into the air as effortlessly as a rag doll._

_"You are not of this world." The voice was scary, empowering._

_She did not even have two seconds to dwell on it before the curving blade scratched at her neck. _

_"Why are you here?"_

_Mikan screamed. She cried. She did everything a panicked seven year old would in self defense against a heartless killer. Amidst her struggle, the eight year old saw neither reason nor situation. She didn't notice until she calmed down that the scythe had left her neck and that Hajime's grip was all that tied her to him. _

_She aimed two kicks at his chest. She slapped his hand. She tried to bring her mouth to his arm to bite him. _

_In the end, like an insect, she was flung by those muscular arms straight into a very solid cloud wall. Her head hit first, and Mikan saw black long before she landed._

* * *

_When Sumire heard the news, her first instinct was to slap the crying boy across the face and screech "you're lying!" Tsubasa was known as a very naughty trickster and Mrs. Andou always complained about his antics. On second thought, Koko would surely reprimand her for being childish and even she doubted he would go as far as cry for a mere prank. _

_She cleared her head and contemplated the situation. Even if Mikan was in Hajime and soon Persona's hands, they could not convict her without knowing the situation. Her master would be safe but not for long._

_"Where did he taking her?"_

_"I don't know," she could barely make out the boy's sniffles. "He just took her under his arm and rode away on his carpet."_

_"Well you did the right thing by coming to us," Koko assured him with his grimmer, serious smile. _

_That was just the tip of the iceberg. Anything and everything was only going to get worse from now on. It didn't help either that Koko was the only one who knew about the illegitimate wish that Sumire had granted to the girl. _

_"Sumire, go see Narumi."_

_She shot him a glare. "What? Have you suddenly been possessed by aliens?"_

_"Baby," he reasoned and she crossed her arms because nothing good ever came after that word, "I know you really don't like our teacher."_

_"Former teacher," she corrected._

_"Yes," he dismissed absentmindedly, "but Mr. Narumi has experience with these things. He's the best person to have on our side at the moment. Think about it. He's the only compassionate person as influential as Persona. Do you think Reo Mouri or anyone else will take your side once the cat is out of the bag?"_

_She didn't need Reo. She didn't need anyone else either. It wasn't as if she had even broken a serious law in the first place. _

_"If worse comes to worse," said Sumire, "I'll make a run for it."_

_"You can't!" Tsubasa cried immediately, causing both of them to look down at the little boy. "You can't because the scary man will come and he'll cut you up!"_

_There was fear in his eyes. They could both see it. From an exchange of looks, Koko and Sumire came to the mutual agreement that Tsubasa was to stay out of this entire affair._

_She relinquished, "all right, I'll go see Narumi. Koko's going to take you home, Tsubasa, and you have to stay there from now on."_

_"But_—"

_"Or I won't go."_

_The little boy sniffled a little more, and Sumire could sense his worry for his friend. He could have been a valuable ally if only he were a little bit older. In their current situation, Sumire could not risk holding responsibility for the well-being of a noble's child. Mrs. Andou was not a force to be reckoned with._

_"It'll be over before you know it." Koko winked at the boy._

_He nodded obediently as if realizing his uselessness in the situation._

_"Hurry Sumire," urged her boyfriend. "Get to Narumi before they discover the truth."_

_She snapped her fingers. In an instant, all the dust in the room amassed and solidified into her trusty magic carpet. Expertly mounting it with a single jump, she was about to charge out the door before being stopped by Koko._

_"I love you," he said, kissing her on the lips. _

_Except for Tsubasa's distinguished "ewh!"s in the background, that was arguably the sweetest kiss they had ever shared._

* * *

_Like hell she was going to see Narumi. As if she even knew where that eccentric extrovert was in this vast land! He had a habit of wondering about the city when he was supposed to be doing paperwork. Just like his grandfather, that one. _

_She steered her carpet above all the traffic, right into the express lane exclusive for Genie Officials. It was a good thing she worked her sweet lady parts off for the position, if only just to save the frustration of commuting during rush hour (which was any hour of daylight, really). _

_Sumire charged on her one way course towards the highest tower in the city, a tower completely shrouded by a protective layer of clouds but was actually only building in the two genie worlds made of solid concrete. _

_The foreign substance was impermeable, but that was no big obstacle for Sumire._

_"Halt! Who goes?" _

_"Wow, Mochu. I can't believe how bigheaded you've gotten ever since they gave you this job. I'm a Genie Official. Let me in. I have business here."_

_"No can do," he said with a ridiculously formal guise. "We are all equals in regards to law. Being a genie official doesn't make you above it. Unless you have a valid reason, you cannot answer." He banged his guard stick as if making a point._

This is ridiculous… _Sumire rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. You want a reason? I'll give you a reason. I'm here to make an arrest on Persona and Hajime's most recent case."_

_He whistled. "Talk about bigheaded. I can see that your mouth hasn't gotten any smaller. Say, how's loverboy doing with all this extra luggage?"_

_"Don't even bring Koko into this."_

_The poker face was back. "Okay. Present the culprit. I'll take him."_

_"Hah. I can't believe you'd think for a second that I'd let you have all the glory. Besides, only I can take the culprit."_

_"Why?" grumbled her longtime friend._

_"Because I'm the culprit."_


	11. Singled

_______Official Disclaimer:____ A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**10: Singled**

* * *

…that came and swept the fairy godmother away.

* * *

_The door of the soundproof room shut gently, muffled by a layer of cloud insulation. Sumire stood face to face with two very dark and dangerous creatures._

_Rei Serio, known by the alias Persona, and Hajime were no ordinary genies. In fact, ordinary genies often referred to them as extraterrestrials. They both possessed superhuman strength, superhuman abilities called Alices that only nobles were blessed with, and an unexplainable hatred of showing their faces in public. _

_Sumire doubted they would be any more cordial in front of her although they had yet to speak since she entered the room._

_"So?" she queried. "Where is Mikan?" _

_"The girl," Hajime stated and Sumire realized that the two vile creatures hadn't even bothered to learn her name. _

_"Ah." Persona interlaced his gloved fingers. "You needn't worry about that, Sumire. She is in good hands. I think the better topic to discuss is why you are here right now, since you're so clearly convinced that you are guilty of a crime."_

_She showed herself to a seat, crossing her legs as comfortably as if she owned the entire tower. Tucking her hair behind her left ear, she only looked up and gave them an audacious smile._

_Hajime was alert immediately but Persona welcomed the act of bravery._

_"Unless, of course," he told her, "Mochu gave us a false report, in which case we'll be more than happy to punish him." The sadistic smile widened._

_Sumire held up her right hand and turned to show them her palm. "Mochu made no mistake and neither did Hajime over there. As you can clearly see, I'm in the Clapping Genie World while still under my contract_—_my contract with Mikan Sakura."_

_Now it was she who had them on their toes, although this small advantage of surprise would be short lived. _

_Unsurprisingly, Persona was the first to regain his composure. "Ah. That settles it. You've been a naughty genie ever since you graduated, haven't you, Miss Shouda? Hajime, I think it's time for you to show her to a cell in Level Three."_

_Sumire almost winced when he said that. Level Three was the lowest point of the genie lands and it was reserved for the most heinous criminals. That far below the ground, there was absolutely no magical substance to sustain genies. There were stories circulating around both genie worlds about criminals that rotted and slowly shriveled away to nothing, forgetting their own identities. She had been there a grand total of one time and the stench of sickness alone was enough to make her retch. _

_"I see that you've become more and more unprofessional ever since getting that seat, _Rei_," she sneered. "So you're just going to accept my confession as is without any sort of confirmation? You won't even bring the girl up to confirm our contract?"_

_"Are you admitting to have committed perjury then? You know the punishment for that, don't you _Sumire_?"_

_She almost snorted. The severest punishment for perjury was a three thousand year sentence in a Basement Two cell_—_Basement One if she managed to make the judge feel sympathetic._

_"Very well," she told him in a sing-song voice. "Go ahead and chuck me down into Basement Three as you wish, but if, say someone like Narumi comes to visit me and by a slip of the tongue I accidentally reveal how eager you were to dish out arbitrary punishment…"_

_"Go escort the girl up from her cell," he ordered Hajime. _

_Sumire gloated in her victory as Hajime left the room, banging his huge scythe and sending her a chilling glare as he did. Persona continued sitting at his desk wearily, one hand framing his hairline. Every now and then he would send her a sharp glance, as if declaring that their battle was not over._

_Nonetheless, a victory was a victory after all. _

_Then, a smile came to his black lips and Sumire narrowed her eyes just slightly. Not a moment later, the whimpers of a child came from the doorway and she got an immediate bitter taste in her mouth. _

_"Sumire!" the child immediately ran over, hugging her leg. The tears from her eyes ticked Sumire's skin. _

_"What basement did you put her in, you bastards?"_

_"One," Hajime said with a disappointed shake of his head. "It's unlike you to forget the law lessons. Really, would we place her anywhere else without knowing the full situation?"_

You seemed more than eager to place me in Basement Three_._

_Warily eyeing the both of them, Sumire kneeled to match Mikan's height. She examined the girl carefully, eyes lingering on the heavy bruises on her arms, head, and the shallow cut of a blade on the skin of her neck. _

_"Roughing her, have you?" Green eyes flared._

_"It couldn't be helped." It completely irked Sumire that Hajime stated that with such finality. "A human child in the genie worlds, after all, shouldn't even be allowed to live."_

_"How did you even reckon in the first place that she's a human?"_

_Persona laughed a very chilling laugh. "Oh, Sumire. There's a clear lamp on the back of her hand and you're still trying to confuse us. I'll praise you for being one of the more… original Genie Officials."_

_"Oh, stop it. Please, Serio, that's too much. If you can sign me an autograph now so I can burn it!"_

_"Enough chatter!" announced Hajime. "Show us your contract."_

_With an eye roll, Sumire held out her palm. Mikan, though, was more reluctant and only continued to cower behind her genie. Her body was shaking in fear and for a second Sumire regretted bringing herself in the situation, if only because she didn't want the girl to suffer. _

_"It's okay to hold it out, Mikan."_

_Slowly, shyly, the little girl extended her hand and uncoiled her small fingers, revealing a very faint lamp mark._

_"See it now?" Sumire scoffed. "We have identical lamp markings in all the right places. Oh, whatever does this mean?"_

_"Plain and simple, it means that there are two cells waiting for you down in Level Three. Hajime, if you please."_

_The bandaged man stepped forward once more, reaching first for Mikan, who immediate shrunk as small as she possibly could. _

_"Now hold up a second. You're going to lock her up too? A six year old human, completely ignorant of our laws?"_

_"She made the wish."_

_"And I told her it was legal. Clearly the blame falls on me."_

_"It doesn't matter. She made the wish," he reiterated with a frown. _

_"Yeah, well you and your scythe can go suck it, changing up all the laws as you please. Take Serio while you're at it. Snapping Genie Land'll blow up before either one of you actually do any 'law enforcement.'" The last bit was sardonically emphasized with air quotes. _

_"Hajime."_

_She saw the grab long before it was coming. Supported by two strong feet, Sumire deflected Hajime's punch with one hand while twisting the handle of his scythe with the other. A spin, another elbow, and he was as good as down. For a few seconds, at least. _

_A few seconds was all she needed. _

_With a snap, her magic carpet materialized in thin air, wrapping itself around Mikan. The small girl gave only a few small cries of protest, muffled and lost as the carpet coiled tight enough to completely cocoon her in. Then, directing its sharp point at the window, the entire bundle_—_carpet and Mikan_—_jumped out. _

_"Adding more years onto our sentence, are we now Sumire?"_

_Her smile was broad. "Like I said, Persona, you and your law enforcement crew can go suck it. King Yukihira was clearly not in the right state of mind when he appointed you. I hope Mochiage or some other lowlife will dethrone you in the imminent future."_

_He laughed. "Yes, keep going and I might even make a Level Four just for you, Sumire. Just for you."_

* * *

_Mrs. Andou was not a force to be reckoned with. Sumire kept telling him that, so it was really Koko's fault for not listening. But how could he let her pushiness elapse so much time? Weeks went by, wasted! He should have been at Narumi's long ago, especially since there was an nab, a small nab at the back of his head that constantly reminded him that his girlfriend was not the type to go see her former teacher and wait everything out. _

_For once, he wished that he was a Genie Official so he could use the express route. But in the end, he was just a lowly city patrol, there to dish out traffic tickets and such. He couldn't disobey the very laws he was enforcing. That would be hypocrisy._

_It seemed like forever before his former teacher's lamp came into view. Narumi, as usual, was not in his lamp. He was outside, leisurely seated on a luxurious cloud patio chair with a smaller figure. _

_"Koko!" he greeted incredulously. "I didn't expect you to be here! Come, come! Have some tea with Mikan and I!"_

_"Mikan?" Relieved, he quickly put a hand to his heart. "Thank god. She and Sumire managed to escape to your house?"_

_Narumi frowned and Koko's stomach sank. At once, the horrifying reality dawned upon him as soon as Mikan's lower lip began to tremble. _

_"Sumire? Is she there? Where is Sumire?"_

_Then Mikan was crying and Narumi was scurrying and Koko had to wonder how long the chaos was going to last before they could finally piece together all their separate stories. _

* * *

_It was dreadful. Absolutely dreadful. Sumire was beginning to wish that Persona _had_ actually made a Basement Four especially for her, because at least she wouldn't have to endure the sickening moans of her fellow inmates. In the first decade, she stopped trying to find any common interests with them. In the second decade, she stopped trying to tolerate them. Now she was just counting down the years between now and death because death would be so much better than now. _

_"Visitor for Sumire Shouda." Even the guard sounded like a complete zombie. At least the guard resided on the outside of the door so he was neither exposed to the stench nor the whines. Once, she would have looked down on that job. Now she would give anything to be in that same position._

_Sumire was tired. She couldn't yawn because the air was disgusting. She couldn't rub her eyes because her fingers were unsanitary. All that was left to do was close them until the visitor arrives._

_"Thank you," a very familiar voice spoke, causing her eyes to snap open. "You can leave us now."_

_At once, she was by the bars, reaching her fingers through to touch him, never mind how grimy and disgusting they were. _

_"Hi baby." Koko presented her the most brilliant smile possible. "Narumi and I are going to get you out of there, don't you worry."_

_"I wish you would hurry up," she moaned, leaning towards him like a sunflower in need of the sun. "Five hundred years without you and now this. I'm dying!"_

_"C'mon," he joked cheekily. "That's not what you told Persona."_

_She shot him a glare._

_"All jokes aside, though, he is working as hard as he can to clear your sentence. Persona and Hajime are working just as hard to keep it. Mrs. Andou tells me that the Genie Officials were forced to split and take two sides."_

_"Oh great. Who's on mine?"_

_"Narumi obviously, his sister Yuka, surprisingly Reo Mouri and those other close-minded old men you used to grumble about. Not so close-minded now, are they?" He wiggled three fingers teasingly. _

_"Yeah, yeah. What about King Kazu?"_

_The smile dimmed just a little. "He refuses to announce his standpoint. Considering that he appointed Persona himself, though… We'll convince him somehow."_

_"I don't particularly care," she lied, crossing her arms. "I basically gave Persona a huge eff-you, so if Kazu's on his side then Kazu can have it too."_

_The gray eyed genie sighed, "I shouldn't have expected anything less."_

_She rolled her eyes. "I told you this when we began dating. If you can't handle my remarks, then we have no future."_

_"We're going to have a future. Guilty or not, I'm getting you out of this."_

* * *

_Sumire rubbed around her eye for the fifth time that year. Although, she had no idea why she even bothered trying to stay sanitary especially when her eye was probably infected by now. For every one molecule of air, there were probably ten billion molecules of viruses, germ-like materials and such. No wonder people went crazy in this place. _

_"Visitor for Sumire Shouda." She was really used to that voice by now. Since her case was greatly debated, she was solely responsible for more than half of the visitors whether they be her smiling boyfriend, her screaming brother or a former classmate that became a close friend of hers without her knowledge. _

_Something yellow caught her eye and Sumire allowed her heart to leap for a moment. She was sure it was Koko, coming to disclose details on his oh so secret elopement plan. As he came closer, it was obvious that he wasn't Koko._

_"Oh, it's you."_

_Narumi waved away the guard, who looked only too happy to return to his post. "It's been a while, Sumire, hasn't it? I must confess that I'm disappointed in you."_

_"Already got the talk from my family. You sound like a replay of my dad at this point. Or my brother. They're both like the same person anyway."_

_"Oh dear pupil of mine," he cried melodramatically. "How ever did you get yourself into this mess?"_

_Sumire allowed herself to yawn, only to have the yawn cut off by a cough_—_an attempt to dispel the sick air around her. _

_"You look seriously ill right now. When have you gotten so thin?"_

_Ignoring Narumi completely, Sumire peered over her former teacher's shoulder, looking for someone who wasn't there. "Have you heard from Koko lately?"_

_Narumi's face finally grew serious. "I hear from Koko and Mochu plus a plethora of other people every day about your situation. I think you should know that your death has been determined_—_death by public decapitation. Hajime will be the one to do it."_

_At that point, she could only give a weak shrug. After all, it wasn't as if she hadn't expected it. _

_"I never thought you of all my pupils would become like this. I would have expected Mochu to land himself in prison one day, or even Koko, but not you. Jesus Christ!" He clutched his head and did a three sixty in _agony._ With Narumi, everything was theatrics, which Sumire absolutely detested. "Have you learned nothing? What did I tell you in the first day of class? You break rules, you go to jail, you die."_

_She snorted, "technically I didn't break a rule, _Mr. Narumi_, because I stayed true to our constitution, you know, the one you made us memorize on the first day of school."_

_"Genies exist to make people happy," he recalled, coming to a sudden epiphany._

_She clapped very audibly, very sardonically. "If I ever get out of this alive, you should consider becoming the next Genie King."_

_"Don't joke with me, Sumire," Narumi replied with a smile plastered across his face. "You're brilliant! I can still legitimately claim that you're my number one pupil."_

_"Soon to be number one dead pupil."_

_"Now that won't be the case!" he chirped every word now, and Sumire could feel an oncoming headache. How it frustrated her that this ludicrous excuse for a man had access to the genie worlds and she didn't. "Do you really think that Koko and Mochu don't have a plan to get you out of there?"_

_"Koko and Mochu with a plan…"_

_"… You're right, but have a little faith in them."_

_Sumire attempted to sigh patiently. "Okay. What is it?"_

_The only thing Narumi's briefing did was successfully convince Sumire that she was acquainted with the three most idiotic genies in the existing universe. _

* * *

_"The bomb, is it in place?"_

_"Koko?"_

_The two other men looked to him._

_"Er, um, yeah." _

_Truthfully, the only thing on his mind was that his girlfriend was being held by Hajime that very second. His soulmate. In the hands of a monster. Koko was surprised he could even see straight at the moment._

_"Focus, Koko!" Narumi's voice went in one ear and out the other. "We're counting on you."_

_"Rope and extra rope?" Mochu asked, looking up from his checklist._

_"Yes."_

_"What about Mikan?"_

_"Oh crap!" Narumi's hands flew to his head. "I totally forgot about Mikan. She should still be at Koko's house right now. We told her to stay put. Mikan's a good girl."_

_Mochu and Koko immediately exchanged wary glances. _

_"Does she know that the execution is today?" the former asked._

_"No… I don't think so."_

_"Are you sure?" he pressed. "Don't you think she could have heard it from one of our meetings? Or when we were calling each other?"_

_The unease was growing in all of their hearts, unease that Mikan might have wandered outside in search of Tsubasa or Sumire. It wasn't the first time that the three regretted keeping her in the dark about Sumire's situation. It wouldn't be the first time she ventured somewhere on her own either._

_"You should go check on her," Koko said to Narumi. "You know her the best out of us three."_

_Narumi conceded, immediately grabbing his carpet and setting out. With the older man gone, Mochu turned to Koko._

_"Remember Yome, we only have one shot at this. If this doesn't work, make sure that the girl stays safe. If that doesn't work, I will lop off your head, Narumi's head, and my own in that order."_

_"I'll go set up the bomb," he stated. _

_Just a little more and they would be free from this entire mess. It was unfair, really, how they tried her. He was convinced that Persona pulled one string or another behind the scenes. He never seemed so confident when convicting anyone else. The smirk on his face had Koko itching to leap up and beat the daylight out of him_.

_The bomb was all ready to go. _

_As long as people stayed clear of the place, there wouldn't be any casualties but the commotion created would divert their attentions long enough for them to Koko and Sumire to slip away surreptitiously into the human world. That world was vast. Once there, they could easily conceal their presence and hide. As long as they remained on the low, no genie would be able to find them for millenniums. _

_Stage One was in place, and the bomb was hidden behind the smooth rope. He would come back and start the timer just as he swapped it for the rough one. The ropes were all kept in the janitor's closet and the rough rope would be completely burned at that proximity. His alibi was set._

_It was time to take the entire execution platform into their hands. _

* * *

_Panic surged through Narumi's blood like fire would through a gas pipe. There was exactly one week before the commencement of the execution. One week. And Mikan was missing._

_Narumi, for once in his life, went absolutely ballistic. In the flash of an eye, tables were flipped over, chairs got thrown over, blankets flipped. Koko's lamp simply became one haphazard mess where everything was completely out in the open._

_Yet there was no Mikan_.

_Only half a week left. If Narumi didn't head over to the execution platform _now, _he wouldn't make it. A number of disastrous outcomes could arise from Mikan's absence. But a bigger catastrophe would ensue if he didn't make it in time. After all, he was the back up. _

_And this was a matter of life and death._

* * *

_Tsubasa grinned smugly upon leaving his lamp. Mr. and Mrs. Andou strictly ordered him to stay in the house for the entire day but he wasn't going to be confined so easily. Though small, even he could see that some kind of commotion was rattling the very foundation of the two genie worlds and it would be a lie to say that his mischievous curiosity didn't get the better of him._

_So the little boy smuggled his mother's magic carpet out of the carpet and set forth towards the huge gathering crowd. The ride was rocky and his steering was amateur; he couldn't help but make an angry fist at the older genies who rode by swiftly without a problem. _

_And then he saw her._

_It didn't dawn on him right away to ask Mikan what she was doing running on the empty streets when everyone else was riding a carpet. Tsubasa was completely consumed by the excitement of the entire event. Without really thinking about it, he dove and offered a hand. _

_"C'mon! There's something really exciting going on!"_

_Mikan jolted sharply as he grabbed her wrist but visibly relaxed when she saw that it was only Tsubasa. With a toothy grin, he scooped her onto the carpet and sped towards the platform before the highest tower in the Genie World._

_Their ride was smooth. There was no way he could let Mikan see his inexperience. _

_Suddenly, she latched onto his arm, trembling. Befuddled, Tsubasa turned to see if she was okay only to be completely taken back when he saw her deathly white face. _

_"What's wrong?" he asked urgently._

_"It's him!" she cried hysterically before burying her face in his shoulder. _

_"Him wha_—"

_Then he understood. Before Mikan, proudly erect on the large platform before thousands of genies stood Hajime Yakumo. The scythe in his hand was larger, scarier and by far deadlier than the one on hand the day he bashed Mikan's head into a wall. The very tip of the blade gleamed in the sunlight and Tsubasa got cold sweat down his back from just looking at it. _

_Hajime had not yet noticed them but the terrified genie was positive that if he did, he would try to capture Mikan again. Tsubasa attempted a silent escape, steering the carpet in a U turn but he was not yet experienced enough and while turning, his eyes just happened to drift to Hajime's face for a second. But for that one second, they made eye contact. _

Tsubasa, _he vaguely heard his mother's voice in his head_, the most important thing to do when turning is to not let go. Hold on tight, as if your life depends on it.

_In that defining moment, he lost grip on his carpet and they both fell into the fray._


	12. Misfortune

This chapter was originally meant as a buffer so that I would have something to post if I ever got writer's block for Three Wishes. It is the last one of this story written so far and I've forgotten about it for the entire summer. Even now, you could say that the only reason it's up is because I decided to check this account on a whim. Updates and promises hereon out will be as reliable as they always have been from me (read: not reliable at all).

As far as writing goes, I'm not out of the GA fandom yet. But as far as being a fan goes, I've been out for many years already. I hope you can understand my position. :) I just don't want to leave behind what I've started.

* * *

___Official Disclaimer: A huge whooping thank you goes to Mademoiselle Mirage for creating the basis of this story. The genie concept belongs to her. The story, up to chapter three (discerning the prologue), also contains excerpts of her writing. I would just like to thank you endlessly, Pam, for this golden piece of work, and I apologize for not being able to finish it sooner!_

* * *

_Three Wishes_

**11: Misfortune**

* * *

The princess, unable to desert her closest friend and mentor,

* * *

_Koko felt like he was fighting a battle just by standing on that execution platform. Everyone else was an enemy. _

_Hajime was smirking quite delightfully. Koko fought the urge to rip his face off. _

_Persona was also smirking quite gleefully, but he was up in a balcony, next to the king and untouchable. Koko still imagined painfully tearing him to shreds. _

_Then there was Mochu. Mochu's eyes hadn't left him since the bomb was supposed to detonate_—_exactly one day ago. The stare was hostile. It was the kind of pointed stare one gave to purposely rouse anxiety in another. _

_He was already panicking enough without having Mochu on his back._

_Koko ran his mind over the scene again and again. He replaced the rope, set the timer, coiled the old rope around the bomb to hide it, and left promptly but not too promptly to miss checking if he was followed. And he surely wasn't. So why hadn't the bomb detonated?_

_Fearfully, he stole several glances at the platform entrance. Nothing. And Hajime was stepping forward. Hajime was reading Sumire's verdict. Hajime had the scythe in his hand. _

_Koko was about to launch forward and declare his betrayal to the entire genie race. _

_Exactly one irrational step later, there was a painful digging sensation in his wrist. The spiky haired genie turned around to meet livid gray eyes. Mochu dug his nails into Koko's skin to draw blood. _

_It dawned on them both at that very moment. Something went wrong. They had failed her. And now they would pay the price. Sumire would die right in front of their eyes. _

* * *

_Something was wrong. There was no doubt about it. Something was wrong._

_Because if everything was right, she would have been unstrapped from this uncomfortable position by now._

_She knew it would happen. She _knew _it. But they just had to go and give her such false hopes, such avid anticipations. _

_With her head on the platform, staring out into a million faces, Sumire suddenly experienced the shivers of fear she had long forgotten. Even that was quickly washed away by shame. Shame that she even dared to hope for such a foolish outcome against infinitesimal odds. __Even before the execution, long before the plan, she told herself she was ready for this, that she would face death with a smile if it was the last thing she did._

_Where was that smile now?_

_She felt like crying. At least that would garner a little bit of public pity before she died. _

_It wasn't fair in the least. What did she do that was abominable enough to land her in this position? Sure she granted an illegal wish, but with good intent. And it wasn't like the wish was entirely illegal in the first place, not by the Genie Constitution. She probably shouldn't have sworn at Persona either, but that she didn't regret the least. He was just going to have to deal with it._

_All she ever wanted to do was make Mikan happy, to make herself happy, to just see her soulmate for a little bit longer._

_And what did she get for it? Her iron will most shamefully twisted until it broke, a failed escape plan that shouldn't have been formed in the first place and a doomed fate. She could just see Persona smiling sadistically, snug in his chair. _

_In the sea of faces, she saw pity and dumbfound and fear. Not a single genie possessed a solid resolve. Everyone let her go, even Koko. Especially Koko. When they both realized that the bomb wasn't going to go off, he had been by her side. He could have whispered any number of things to her. He could have at least apologized. He didn't. _

_"I love you," he said, in a flimsy attempt for comfort. He might as well not have given her any hope in the beginning, then. Leading her on and then jumping ship at the last moment_—_it was too cruel. What were the words? What meaning did they have? "You are my soulmate"? "I can't live without you"? Bullshit! Bullshit! Koko Yome was a big fat liar. _

_Of course, of all the times she could have realized it, she had chose the most inopportune. _

_Life was really too cruel. _

_"Before commencing, does anyone have any objections to the execution of Sumire Shouda?"_

_She prayed for him to speak. She put two ocean's worth of faith in him, desperately clinging onto the notion that she was thinking too much, that she was deceiving herself._

_"I do!"_

_The comment took her by a maelstrom of relief and disappointment. Why, of all the people, it came from her old teacher! __Like a leech, she clung onto those two words.__ She could give Koko hell about the defective bomb later. Right now, she just needed to live. Anything to live._

_She tried to focus as Narumi explained some age old theory about genies and their masters he probably got from his father, Noda. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her lamp symbol burned again._

_The pain was even more torturous than before, as if allowing her just the first little taste of death. Sumire sank her canines into flesh to force her tears back into her eyes. The genies' words were entirely lost on her. _

_All, except for that one sentence from Persona: "let the execution begin."_

_She hyperventilated, seeing red everywhere. It wasn't just her genie symbol anymore. Her entire doused in fire. Somewhere, somehow, some spiritual power must have heard her anguish. Someone must have felt sorry for her, because now that the world was crimson, Sumire didn't mind dying nearly as much. _

_Something sharp crashed down on her neck. She shut her eyes tightly at the impact, but when it was over she found herself slowly blinking them open again._

_The pain was gone. _

_Her audience was dumbfounded._

_For a moment, Sumire wondered if Hajime's blade had dulled. Would her neck be hacked thirty times before it finally split? It must have been Persona's doing, that rascal. _

_The petulant genie tore her head from the block to sit upright. She had a double take upon seeing the scythe… or what was remaining of it. Sumire's eyes travelled from the axe to Hajime, Narumi, Koko, Mochu, Persona and finally, King Yukihira. _

_The sea of genies held their breath._

_Finally, the king rose to his feet. "It seems that you were telling the truth, Narumi," he said with a frown. "In that case, since capital punishment cannot be served, we will surely find another way."_

_"Surely, we cannot let this off with a weaker verdict," drawled Persona from his seat. "Hajime and I took it upon ourselves to investigate this case. We know for a fact that there are clearly two culprits. Miss Shouda is not the only one at fault. There's also a human child."_

_His eyes twitched. Sumire followed his gaze to Narumi and... A small cry of defeat escaped her lips as she saw Mikan, crying her eyes out with Narumi's hand on her shouder._

_"Don't you dare touch her!" she cried out. "She had nothing to do with this. It was all me."_

_"She has seen the genie world. She has been here for long enough to understand our ways. She is a threat!" Persona addressed the entire population. "Humans are vile creatures. If word gets out that we exist, they will want our magic. They will enslave us. You all know from firsthand experience the atrocious demands that they have. Is that not why we have an entire section in the lawbook dedicated to the safety of our race?"_

_The crowd was silent. People looked to one another, afraid to voice their opinion in fear of being singled out._

_"And you think that a seven year old human child's has any sort of credibility at all."_

_Sumire's neck hairs stood on end. She stiffly turned to the genie who finally deigned to speak. He fixed a firm expression on his face, and though her hands remained tied, she clenched her fists tightly. _

_So _now_ Koko spoke up. _Now_ he was going to oppose, when she was safe and out of danger, when_ he_ was safe behind the iron will of Narumi_._ But when her head was locked on the platform, she didn't see him doing anything about it. She fantasized herself suddenly sprouting fangs sharp enough to tear his skinny little body apart. _

_After all that she had risked for him, how could he care for her so circumstantially?_

_"You make a good point as well, Koko," acknowledged the king, "one which begs the question: what would be appropriate punishment for Sumire's betrayal?"_

_He opened his mouth again, and Sumire was sure some higher deity suddenly decided to favour her, because all was silenced by a deafening sound and the shaking of the platform. _

_The 'dud' finally detonated._

_Chaos reigned as hundreds of genies leaped onto magic carpets to hightail out of this place. The king, Persona, all nobles and Genie Officials took a commanding stance in an attempt to take the situation into their own hands. _

_But it was too late. Everything went just as planned… except the timing._

_Sumire felt a sharp tug, and the ropes that bound her hangs duly came apart. _

_"Come on," he said, tugging onto her hand and making a run for it. _

_His feet were the only pair that moved._

_"What's wrong?" Koko demanded. "Let's go, Sumire. We can't waste any more time."_

_"No."_

_He was stunned. "What do you mean no? We planned this out for centuries!"_

_"Why should I go with you," she hissed hatefully, "when I could be dead by now? Why should I trust you now when you failed me in the most critical moment? Tell me."_

_"I-I set the bomb on time. A week, I'm sure of it. I don't know why it took so long to detonate. Please, Sumire!" He tugged on her hand again. "We'll sort this out. I'll make it up to you, even if it's the last thing I do. But right now _we have to go_."_

_Liquid rage surged through her veins, and the words spilled as easily as water flowing downstream. "You set it on time, didn't you? You paid careful attention, didn't you? Because last time I checked, that was not on time. Last time I checked, I would have died five weeks ago if Narumi hadn't intercepted. I can't even believe this. You were the one who instigated this dangerous plan. You were the one who asked me to elope with you. How could you singlehandedly fuck everything up? For you to shirk responsibility right to my face, Kokoroyome…"_

_She could see him sighing in relinquishment, in an attempt to be patient with her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Sumire. I'm sorry a million times."_

_His hand was still outstretched to her, and for a second she glanced down at it, swatting it away in her mind like a pesky vermin. _

_At that moment, Koko came to a heart-wrenching realization. This girl. This girl in front of him didn't want to go with him. After such tedious, careful planning, such passionate debates, she resigned to giving herself in. The light was dead in her eyes. The figure standing before him was not his girlfriend, just some empty, soulless shadow of her._

_One that he was somehow responsible for._

_"You don't want to come," he choked out, close to tears._

_Sumire averted his eyes. She had not seen Koko cry in thousands of years, not since he was a small and depressed genie. His face made her heart wrench, and it only made her blood boil even more; why was her heart wrenching for such an untrustworthy, unreliable man? _

_"Narumi will protect Mikan. Persona can't kill me," she said in a neutral voice, "and Kazu won't hurt me. What's the worst that can happen if I stay? I get perpetually thrown into Level Three? I can deal with that. I've been in there for several hundred years already. If I'm lucky, the next genie king will feel generous enough to let me out._

_"And besides, it's not as if I want to be with you for the rest of my life or anything…"_

* * *

_"Whew!" an annoying, dramatic voice pierced her ears, making her feel even woozier than she already was. "I can't believe you made it this far, Sumire! Really, you are one lucky genie."_

_She wished they would hurry it up. Now that she had her genie powers stripped, being in an atmosphere full of viscous magic was made her lightheaded. It was a wonder how Mikan managed for so many years, but then Mikan was probably too busy having fun to worry about such trivial matters. _

_"The human world, huh?" Narumi mused on. "Where are they sending you, I wonder?"_

_"Anywhere," she snarled. "It doesn't matter."_

_He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Suppose one day we encounter each other by accident."_

_"Not a chance," she snapped. The thought outright disgusted her. _

_Narumi laughed merrily. "All right, all jokes aside, I do believe you got through the incident fairly unscathed. I can think of a number of people who are fairing worse than you. Koko, for example, is making friends in Level Two right now."_

_Her heart jolted, although for a moment Sumire was confused as to why it did. "Serves him right," she bit out. _

_"Aw, don't say that! He fought long and hard to keep your sentence relatively light, you know?"_

_She said nothing, opting to stare long and hard into the gates to the human world, which would open for her any minute now. _

_"Did you say goodbye to Mochu yet?" _

_It was a good thing that she would never see Narumi after this. "Yes. A long time ago, right after he knocked Koko unconscious."_

_Narumi frowned. "Sumire, it was an accident. I understand that you're mad at him, and he certainly shouldn't have allowed it to happen, but everything turned out well in the end. There's no need to hold such a stringent grudge."_

_"I don't care."_

_"Sumire_—_"_

_"What's going to happen to Mikan?" She refused to dwell on this subject._

_A smile came to Narumi's face. "Mikan's in good hands. My sister and Kazu's brother have adopted her as a child. Most of her memories have fuzzed out, and we'll rely on time to do the rest. She won't be in any danger as long as Kazu remains on the throne. He loves to baby his little brother. Kazu'll be putty in Izumi's hands."_

_She allowed a smile to come to her face as well. "Well, that's good."_

_In the distance, two genie officials made their way towards the duo. They were the gatekeepers, and would be leading Sumire to the other side as soon as they arrived. _

_"Mr. Narumi, I have a favour to ask you."_

_Golden eyebrows rose._

_"You sister can transfer genie powers, can't she? Since she stripped me of mine, can you ask her to give them to Mikan?"_

_"That's not for me to decide," he told her sadly._

_"But you can at least suggest it," she protested. "Can't you at least use Mr. Izumi to get to the Genie King? Mikan has been ostracized for most of her life. When I first met her, she was sad, lonely, abused, and shut-in. I brought her here to escape that lifestyle. It'd be too cruel for her to live life as oppressed here as she did in the human realm."_

_"Well…"_

_Sumire__ knew Narumi had a weak spot for Mikan and she was more than happy to exploit it. __"If you don't do this, she will be the only citizen in the two genie worlds who doesn't have any powers. If it's going to be like this then I can't imagine even Tsubasa staying with her for long."_

_"I'll see what I can do," he finally conceded._

_The two gatekeepers had arrived and locked arms with Sumire. _

_"If you manage this, I might just consider you to be the best teacher I've ever had."_

_"You can't take that back, Sumire!" she heard him yell just as she was dragged beyond the gates. _

* * *

_All mundane aspects of the human life were in fact very annoying. Sumire could think of at least twenty things she would rather do other than going out to buy toothpaste. _

_Toothpaste costs money. Money she didn't have. _

_And sometimes, in desperation, she would sacrifice the little things such as toothpaste and shampoo for money to pay the bills, only to feel absolutely disgusted afterwards. Food wasn't a big problem, because even without powers, a genie did not need much food to survive. Everything else, however, was. _

_Lodging accommodations were a pain. Getting a job was a pain. It had been easier after the earthquake that fortunately or not so fortunately befell right after she was banished. Everything was a mess then, and she could get support from relief teams. _

_But then everything returned to order, and once more the truth stood that Sumire was an absolute nobody in this world. She had no social security number, no pension, no health insurance, no work insurance, no insurance of any kind, and no birth certificate. As far as the system was concerned, there was no Sumire Shouda to ever exist. _

_She didn't even have enough money to spare for a fake I.D. All jobs she had ever taken were under the table, and it wasn't easy to find a place she could live where the landowner didn't demand some kind of legal identification. _

_Honestly, it was amazing she had even made it past four human years in this state. She was lucky enough to be living and working in a small trinket shop in a poor district of the city. _

_But something had to change. She needed to establish something permanent in order to thrive in this world. She would never age, so she could never stay anywhere for too long a time. Luck would not always be on her side, and what she had right now guaranteed her homelessness for years and years to come. _

_She wondered if Kazu foresaw this when he finally declared her punishment. _

_At least it was a blessing to be away from Persona and Hajime and Koko once and for all. _

_She closed her eyes, feeling the slight breeze hit her face. Late afternoon was the only time she would ever consider hitting up the grocery store for toiletries. Though Sumire was a genie, she was not gifted in the art of self defense and without magic she was as strong as a normal twenty one year old woman. _

_She entered Sakurano's Convenience Store, where she got most if not everything she ever needed to live. The owner was quite pleasant. He had a nice smile, and a tendency to give regular customers discounts. By now, he could count on Sumire to come at least once a month._

_Sakurano's Convenience Store was a very small store. Except for locals, not a lot of people stopped by, so after Sumire collected all her supplies she was surprised to see that one, it was not Shuuichi at the counter but rather his friend Hayami, and two, there was a very, very young child arguing with him. _

_"Twenty cents or nothing." Were all kids so stingy these days?_

_"That's fine. We don't want you children hanging around here."_

_Their strikingly purple eyes bored into his skull. _

_"You're not the manager, are you?" the girl said flatly. "Let me see the manager. I want to complain."_

_"Are you done?" Sumire asked impatiently. Her arms felt rather heavy with the stock of shampoo that would hopefully last four or five months at the very least._

_Both of them immediately turned to look at her._

_"Ah, Shuuichi's regular," said Hayami as he immediately cancelled out the girl's items and started scanning in her shampoo bottles. _

_The little girl's stare now pierced into Sumire's skull, and Sumire shuffled her feet slightly, feeling like she recognized her from somewhere._

_"It's you," she said in a mechanical voice. "Where's Mikan?"_

_Immediately, the exiled genie froze, unable to believe her luck. Of all the people she could have encountered, what were the chances that she would meet with Mikan's doll? Mikan's doll that _she_ had brought to life, no less. _

_"She's safe," was all Sumire could manage as Hayami handed her the large plastic bag._

_She numbly gave a few bills to him, and he ducked behind the counter to fetch her change. As soon as the last coin dropped into Sumire's hand, she sped out of the grocery store._

_"Are you trying to run away from me?" _

_She jolted, before remembering that the girl was a doll. Her uncannily long legs allowed her much quicker strides, even if her legs moved very mechanically. _

_"What do you want?"_

_Hotaru pulled on her sleeve. "Tell me what happened to Mikan."_

_With her teeth gritted, Sumire squeezed her eyes for five seconds before reopening them again. Perhaps it was a little selfish of her to take Mikan into the genie world while leaving Hotaru behind. A doll did deserve to know what happened to her owner. Sumire found herself spilling all the details to Hotaru on the way to her shabby home._

_When they arrived at the doorstep, Hotaru finally summarized her thoughts with two simple, meaningless words. "I see."_

_"Yeah. So basically that's it."_

_"So you need a place to stay, don't you?" Sumire noticed that the girl was eyeing the torn down store very critically. _

_"Maybe," she finally admitted. "But I'm faring fine right now."_

_"Right now. What about later?"_

_"I don't know. I'll manage."_

_The girl suddenly pulled a piece of paper and pen from her pocket. She quickly scribbled a few words and numbers onto it before handing it to Sumire._

_"What is this?"_

_"You'll need a place to stay," Hotaru stated with finality. "If you're ever in need, come to this address, ask for Hotaru Imai and say that you're applying to be my housemaid."_

_"_Housemaid?_" _

_The girl waved her hand. "False occupation. Just say that you are. I'll provide you a job, an I.D., anything you need to live, as long as you promise me one thing."_

_"Go on…"_

_The child's eyes were strikingly sharp. "If you were to ever meet Mikan, you have to tell her the truth, the entire truth and nothing but the truth. You have to let her know that she's still human and bring her back to me."_


End file.
